I 


AND  MODERN  LIF 


AYTON  SEDGWICK  COOPER 


SEP   8  »»11 
GIFT 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

GIFT    OF 

Class 


THE    BIBLE   AND    MODERN   LIFE 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

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A      PAGE      FROM      THE      GUTENBERG      BIBLE 

The  year  of  the  tercentenary  of  the  authorized 
English  translation  of  the  Bible  will  be  marked  by 
the  sale  of  the  Gutenberg  Bible  for  $50,000.  the 
[argesl  amount  ever  paid  for  a  single  book  in  the 
history    of   the   world. 

This  was  the  first  important  book  printed  from 
movable  type,  and  dated  1450-5S.  It  is  written  in 
Latin  and  printed  in  Gothic  characters,  the  citation 
here  chosen   being  from  Job   19:  23. 


THE  BIBLE  AND 
MODERN  LIFE 


By 

CLAYTON  SEDGWICK  COOPER 

Author  of  "  College  Men  and  the  Bible  " 


FUNK    &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 

NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON 
I9I  I 


•v' 


Copyright,   1911,  by 

FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 

{Printed  in  the   United  States   of  America) 

Published  July,  1911 


AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 

TO  Mr 
FATHER  AND  MOTHER 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

Preface xi 

I.    Why  Men  Study  the  Bible 3 

II.    The  College  Man,  the  Church  and  the 

Bible   23 

III.    Bible  Study  Among  Men  in  the  Orient.  .     43 
IY.    Successful  Organization  and  Conduct  of 

Bible   Study 57 

V.    Bible  Study  in  Small  Classes 75 

VI.    Large  Organized  Bible  Classes 93 

VII.    Bible-study  Courses  and  Literature 121 

VIII.    The  Bible  as  a  Means  to  Service 139 

Appendix  161 

Index  203 


vu 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 

A  Page  from  the  Gutenberg  Bible.  .  .Frontispiece 

International  Bible  Group,  Columbia  University      8 

Helen  Gould  Bible-study   Club,  Fort  Seward, 
Alaska    16 

A  Few  of  the  Students  at  a  Northfield  Sum- 
mer Conference 26 

G.  Sherwood  Eddy  and  Itinerating  Band  of  The- 
ological Students  in  India 36 

An  American  Teacher  in  a  Japanese  Govern- 
ment School  and  His  Voluntary  Bible  Group    44 

Robert  Gailey  and  His  Bible  Class  in  Tientsin, 
China 52 

Tuskegee  (Alabama)  Normal  and  Industrial  In- 

stitute,  Bible-study  Students 60 

Bible  Class  of  Railroad  Men,  Punxsutawney, 
Pennsylvania   64 

American  Soldiers  Studying  the  Bible  in  the 
Philippines 76 

An  Oriental  Bible-study  Group  in  an  Occident- 
al University 88 

ix 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

University    of    Texas    Sunday-morning    Bible 

Groups 96 

Hubbell  Bible  Class,  Rochester,  New  York  (An 

Outing)    114 

A  Memorable  Place  for  Bible  Study 126 

English  Class  of  Russian  and  Rumanian  Jews.  142 
An  English  Class  for  Magyars,  Taught  by  a 
Bible  Student  from  the  College  of  the  City 
of  New  York 148 


PREFACE 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  suggest 
a  type  of  Bible  study  fitted  to  the  needs  of 
modern  times. 

Bible  study  to  many  people  is  a  dreary 
business.  It  seems  far  away  from  the  com- 
mon vital  interests  of  humanity.  Those 
who  have  made  any  thoroughgoing  study  of 
the  Bible,  however,  know  that  it  takes  hold 
upon  the  realities,  the  common  tasks,  and 
the  deep  human  loyalties  in  which  men  and 
women  live  and  move  and  have  their  being. 
Should  not,  therefore,  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures, both  through  courses  of  study  and 
methods  of  organization,  be  treated  natu- 
rally, scholarly,  sensibly,  practically,  and 
always  in  relation  to  real  life  and  conduct? 

Modern  scholarship  is  ministering  greatly 
to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures;  it  is  helping 
to  make  the  Bible  real,  not  by  making  it  less 
divine,   but  more  human,  more  intelligent, 

xi 


PREFACE 

more  capable  of  sustaining  faith  in  the  liv- 
ing God. 

Efficient  organization  and  teacher  training 
are  also  indispensable  to  students  of  the 
Bible  to-day.  Modern  methods  are  not  to 
replace  devout,  Christian  experience,  which 
has  always  illumined,  and  will  continue  to 
illumine  the  truth  of  the  Bible.  Bible  study 
must,  however,  secure  with  exactitude  the 
facts  of  historical  Christianity,  which  are 
basic  to  intellectual,  moral  and  religious  con- 
victions. The  Bible  student  must  be  able  also 
to  relate  these  facts,  not  simply  to  individ- 
ual life,  but  also  with  directness  and  with 
courage  to  the  conditions  of  his  own  times, 
asking:  "What  is  the  teaching  of  Christian- 
ity for  the  state,  for  society,  for  the  church, 
and  for  the  school  of  the  present  century, 
and  how  shall  this  teaching  be  successfully 
applied? " 

Furthermore,  the  Bible  study  which  ap- 
peals to  the  men  and  women  of  representa- 
tive leadership  to-day,  is  possest  of  hu- 
man interest  and  attractiveness.     It  is  re- 


PREFACE 

ported  that  the  editor  of  a  prominent  daily 
paper  often  returns  manuscripts  to  their 
respective  authors,  after  writing  upon  them 
with  a  blue  pencil  the  letters,  "H.  I."  This 
is  a  brief  way  of  saying  to  the  reporter, 
"Put  human  interest  into  your  story.' '  The 
Bible,  if  suggestively  presented,  will  make 
a  strong  appeal  to  persons  of  vital  interests, 
to  men  fervent  in  social  studies,  and  to  stu- 
dents of  politics,  philosophy,  ethics,  and  re- 
ligion. The  type  of  Bible  study  which  will 
reach  the  heart  of  our  day  is  that  which  is 
presented,  not  simply  in  the  category  of 
duty,  but  also  in  the  category  of  pleasur- 
ableness  and  readableness. 

An  English  critic  recently  uttered  a  more 
or  less  just  criticism  upon  books  dealing 
with  the  Bible  and  related  topics,  by  saying 
that  too  often  their  titles  and  subject-matter 
make  no  appeal  whatsoever  to  the  general 
reader.  Such  fascinating  and  remarkable 
material  as  the  Bible  contains  ought  to 
"buttonhole  the  reader,"  as  Richard  Wat- 
son Gilder  was  wont  to  express  the  secret 

xiii 


PREFACE 

of  success  in  magazine  writing,  and  this 
attention  to  style  in  presentation  should  not 
be  detached  from  the  depth  and  power  of 
the  ideas.  For,  after  all,  of  what  use  are 
lengthy  elocutionary  or  theological  appeals 
and  exegetical  interpretations  of  the  Bible 
if  they  are  never  read,  or  if  they  never  in- 
duce people  to  study  the  Bible  for  them- 
selves ? 

With  such  ideas  in  general  about  Bible 
study  the  writer  presents  the  following 
pages.  Several  of  the  chapters  have  ap- 
peared in  serial  form  in  the  Homiletic  Re- 
view. The  interest  in  these  papers,  shown 
by  many  requests  and  much  correspondence 
from  widely  different  sections,  seemed  to 
warrant  the  gathering  of  these  articles,  with 
some  additional  material,  into  such  form  as 
to  make  them  usable  as  a  handbook  on  the 
practical  use  of  the  Bible. 

I  would  make  appreciative  acknowledg- 
ment of  my  indebtedness  to  Mr.  Eobert 
Scott,  Editor  of  the  Homiletic  Review; 
also  to  the  Bible  Movement  of  the  Student 
xiv 


PREFACE 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  to  the 
Hubbell  Class  of  Rochester,  the  Madison 
Avenue  League,  the  Young  Men's  Bible 
Class  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist  Church, 
New  York  City,  and  the  Cooper  League  of 
Lynn,  Mass.,  some  of  whose  literature  in  the 
way  of  constitutions,  forms  of  class  work,  con- 
ference programs,  etc.,  I  have  used  in  the 
Appendix. 

With  a  keen  personal  sense  of  the  limita- 
tions of  this  treatise,  but  with  the  ever-grow- 
ing and  deepening  conviction  that  the  Bible 
is  destined  to  become  increasingly  for  per- 
sons of  diverse  station,  creed,  nationality, 
and  race,  the  Book  of  Power,  the  author  pre- 
sents these  studies  upon  "The  Bible  and 
Modern  Life." 

Clayton  Sedgwick  Cooper. 

New  York,  May  24,  1911. 


Chapter  I 
WHY  MEN  STUDY  THE  BIBLE 


The  opening  of  thy  words  giveth  light. 

—Psalm,  119:  130 


If  we  be  ignorant,  the  Scriptures  will  instruct  us;  if  out 
of  the  way,  they  will  bring  us  home;  if  out  of  order,  they 
will  reform  us;  if  in  heaviness,  comfort  us;  if  dull,  quicken 
us;   if  cold,  inflame  us.     Tolle,  lege;  tolle,  lege. 

— King  James's  Revisers,  1611 

Lincoln  wrote  to  his  intimate  friend,  Joshua  F.  Speed: 
"I  am  profitably  engaged  in  reading  the  Bible.  Take  all 
of  this  book  upon  reason  that  you  can,  and  the  balance  on 
faith,  and  you  will  live  and  die  a  better  man." 

In  vain  we  call  old  notions  fudge 
And  bend  our  conscience  to  our  dealing. 
The  ten  commandments  will  not  budge 
And  stealing  will  continue  stealing. 

— Lowell 

The  French  poet  Alfred  de  Musset  was  "a  child  of  the 
sunshine  and  the  storm";  and  when  he  died,  his  old  servant 
pointed  to  a  New  Testament  and  said  to  a  friend  who  came 
to  inquire  about  him:  "I  know  not  what  Alfred  found  in 
that  book,  but  he  always  latterly  had  it  under  his  pillow 
that  he  might  read  it  when  he  would. " 

The  testimony  of  Napoleon  I  to  the  Bible  as  recorded  in 
Bertrand's  Memoirs.  "Behold  it  upon  this  table"  (here  he 
solemnly  placed  his  hand  upon  it).  "I  never  omit  to  read 
it,  and  every  day  with  the  same  pleasure.  Nowhere  is  to  be 
found  such  a  series  of  beautiful  ideas,  admirable  moral 
maxims,  which  produce  in  one's  soul  the  same  emotion  which 
one  experiences  in  contemplating  the  infinite  expanse  of 
the  skies  resplendent  upon  a  summer's  night  with  all  the 
brilliance  of  the  stars.  Not  only  is  one's  mind  absorbed, 
it  is  controlled,  and  the  soul  can  never  go  astray  with  this 
book  for  its  guide." 

Bead  your  Bible — make  it  your  daily  business  to  obey  it 
in  all  that  you  understand.  To  my  early  knowledge  of  the 
Bible  I  owe  the  best  part  of  my  taste  in  literature. 

— John  Euskin 


Chapter  I 
WHY  MEN  STUDY  THE  BIBLE 

I — World-wide  Popularity 
The  Bible  is  to-day  the  most  popular  and 
the  most  widely  read  book  in  existence.  Its 
extensive  use  is  as  wide  as  the  world  and 
those  who  study  it  are  as  diverse  as  the  na- 
tions. In  eighteen  different  countries  last 
college  year,  80,000  college  men  were  study- 
ing in  voluntary  Bible  classes  in  institutions 
of  higher  learning.  The  Baraca  Movement, 
the  object  of  which  is  the  interesting  of 
young  men  in  organized  Bible  classes  in  the 
church,  reported  last  season  a  Bible-class 
membership  of  350,000  young  men.  The 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  enrolled 
last  year  in  Bible  study  in  their  various 
branches  97,232  men.  These  men  repre- 
sented our  cities,  country  districts,  railroads, 
colleges,  high  schools,  industries,  and  the 
army  and  navy. 

3 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN  LIFE 

The  volume  of  voluntary  student  Bible 
study  in  North  America  (28,562  students  at- 
tending classes  for  two  months  or  more  last 
year  in  490  institutions)  would  be  much  in- 
creased should  we  add  the  hundreds  of  men 
who  are  attending  Bible-study  classes  in  con- 
nection with  the  curriculum  of  these  institu- 
tions, and  the  8,977  theological  students  in 
167  institutions  of  the  United  States  and  Can- 
ada who  are  studying  the  Bible  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  Christian  ministry. 

It  is,  moreover,  one  of  the  facts  for  thought- 
ful consideration  that  there  was  last  year  a 
total  army  of  28,011,194  persons,  represent- 
ing fifty-one  nationalities,  who  were  studying 
the  Bible  in  Sunday-schools  of  various  lands. 

Twenty-seven  Bible  Societies  are  printing 
this  book;  one  in  the  United  States,  three  in 
Great  Britain  and  twenty-three  on  the 
European  continent.  These  27  societies  re- 
ported an  aggregate  output  in  1910  of 
12,843,196  Bibles. 

It  is  conservatively  stated  that  more 
copies  of  the  Bible  were  sold  last  year  than 


WHY    MEN    STUDY    THE    BIBLE 

of  any  other  hundred  books  of  the  world 
combined.  The  Oxford  Press  turns  out 
20,000  Bibles  a  week.  The  British  and  For- 
eign Bible  Society  prints  the  Bible  in  400 
languages.  The  head  of  one  of  the  great 
publishing-houses  of  London  stated  recently 
that  it  had  been  impossible  for  several  years 
for  the  house  with  which  he  was  connected  to 
print  Bibles  rapidly  enough  to  supply  the  de- 
mand. It  was  stated  that  the  Boxer  War  in 
China  would  drive  Bible  religion  from  that 
empire,  yet  the  issue  of  Bibles  for  China  last 
year  was  428,000  copies.  The  American 
Bible  Society  published  and  distributed 
in  1910,  2,153,028  copies  of  the  Bible.  The 
total  annual  issues  of  Scriptures  are  over 
nineteen  million  volumes. 

The  thousands  of  men  who  are  being  at- 
tracted at  present  to  the  study  of  the  Bible 
in  connection  with  missionary  organizations, 
and  with  young  people's  societies,  together 
with  an  unrecordable  multitude  who,  in  addi- 
tion to  those  meeting  in  regular  classes,  are 
discovering  day  by  day  the  great  educational 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODEEN  LIFE 

and  inspirational  values  of  the  Christian 
Scriptures,  add  materially  to  this  vast,  un- 
exampled crusade  which  seems  intended  at 
no  distant  date  to  make  the  Bible  the  univer- 
sal book  of  all  peoples. 

Why  has  this  company  of  men  of  widely 
diversified  races  and  religions  given  time 
and  thought  to  the  Bible?  I  wish  to  deal 
with  some  of  the  causes  and  results  of  this 
revival  in  Biblical  study. 


II — What  is  Christianity? 

The  Bible  presents  the  facts  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  Plato  said :  ' '  He  shall  be  as  a 
God  to  me  who  can  rightly  divide  and  de- 
fine.' '  The  president  of  one  of  our  large 
North  American  universities  in  his  convoca- 
tion sermon  recently  said  that  comparatively 
few  people  know  what  Christianity  is.  We 
think  of  a  noted  scientist  who,  when  he  was 
asked  what  he  thought  about  the  failure  of 
Christianity,  exclaimed:  "The  failure  of 
Christianity!    I  have  never  yet  seen  Chris - 

6 


WHY    MEN    STUDY    THE    BIBLE 

tianity  tried.' '  One  of  the  reasons  why  men 
are  not  able  to  really  represent  Christianity 
to  the  world  is  that  they  have  never  studied 
with  thoroughness  its  records  and  its  his- 
tory. They  have  never  really  discovered  its 
underlying  principles.  A  student  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  asked  me:  "What  is  the  dif- 
ference between  those  things  which  you  and 
I  can  disagree  upon  and  still  be  Christians, 
and  the  things  we  must  agree  upon  if  we  are 
Christians  ?" 

It  is  astonishing  how  much  of  our  relig- 
ious knowledge  is  taken  in  a  second-hand 
fashion  from  books  or  from  friends.  Many 
men  of  the  church  have  not  really  studied 
with  deep  seriousness  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
in  the  New  Testament.  A  genuine  knowl- 
edge of  the  great  religion  of  the  Western 
world  is  not  acquired  by  snap-shot  attention 
to  books  or  sermons  about  Christianity. 

In  North  China  I  found  a  prominent 
Chinese  educator  planning  to  give  a  good 
part  of  his  time  for  the  next  few  years  to 
the  study  of  the  principles  of  Christianity, 

7 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

that  he  might  be  able  to  translate  these  prin- 
ciples into  the  vernacular  of  his  people.  As 
one  pierces  below  the  surface  of  our  rapidly 
moving  time  he  finds  almost  invariably,  on 
the  part  of  men  of  mind,  a  real  quest  for 
religion,  a  deep  longing  for  the  abiding 
and  eternal  truths  of  the  heart  and  soul. 
However  changeful  may  be  their  expression 
from  age  to  age,  their  essence  is  the  same 
and  human  response  to  them  is  universal. 
The  great  questions  after  all  are:  What  is 
the  real  meaning  of  the  world?  Is  God  my 
Father  and  can  I  trust  Him!  Is  man  my 
brother  or  my  enemy?  Am  I  an  immortal 
spirit?  What  think  ye  of  Christ?  Upon  the 
answers  to  such  questions  hang  the  destinies 
of  men. 

But  these  are  Bible  questions.  They  are 
not  treated  in  any  such  fulness  or  with  such 
distinctness  in  other  literature  as  they  are 
treated  in  the  Bible.  These  questions  are 
insistent,  quite  regardless  of  race,  nationality, 
or  belief.  Whether  a  man  is  a  Confucianist, 
or  Buddhist,  or  Brahman,  or  Jew,  or  Chris- 

8 


WHY    MEN    STUDY    THE    BIBLE 

tian,  these  are  his  great  problems,  for  they 
are  the  problems  of  humanity — the  problems 
of  life.  Last  year  I  found  a  young  oriental 
student  who  was  reading  through  the  New 
Testament,  after  which,  he  told  me,  he  was 
going  to  decide  about  accepting  Christianity. 
It  is  quite  common  to  find  Orientals  getting 
the  facts  previous  to  reaching  conclusions. 
"And  ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth 
shall  make  you  free." 

Ill— The  Bible  and  Life  Work 
The  Bible  presents  the  principles  invalu- 
able for  the  formation  and  prosecution  of  a 
life-work.  There  is  sufficient  reason  for  the 
study  of  the  Bible  in  the  fact  that  such 
study  furnishes  a  suggestive  basis  for  a  vo- 
cation. Men  and  nations  must  work  out  the 
details  for  themselves,  but  the  principles  are 
here.  Ex-President  Koosevelt  is  quoted  as 
saying  that  almost  every  man  who  has  con- 
tributed to  America  anything  of  which 
America  is  proud  has  founded  his  life  upon 
the  teaching  of  the  New  Testament.      How 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN  LIFE 

does  the  Bible  assist  men  in  their  life-work? 

A  working  knowledge  of  the  Bible  fur- 
nishes proper  perspective  relative  to  choosing 
and  pursuing  any  vocation.  It  clarifies  our 
vision  concerning  the  things  which  are  really 
worth  while  to  spend  time  and  thought  upon. 

The  college  student  may  graduate  as  a 
specialist  of  the  first  type.  He  may  be  an 
expert  in  his  particular  profession.  That  is, 
of  course,  a  high  order  of  accomplishment, 
but  a  more  important  question  presses, 
namely:  Does  he  know  what  his  vocation  is 
really  for!  Can  he  wield  it  to  greater  ends 
than  toward  the  mere  making  of  a  living? 
Every  man  must  decide  whether  his  life 
shall  be  ruled  by  principle  or  by  expedi- 
ency. Does  the  modern  man  really  know 
what  life  is  all  about  and  what  he  is  driving 
toward  with  such  mad  zeal  ?  The  fanatic  has 
been  described  as  a  man  who  doubles  his  en- 
thusiasm when  he  has  lost  his  aim.  He  is  just 
driving  fast  with  no  clear  destination  in  view. 
It  was  a  significant  and  pathetic  cablegram 
that  the  students  of  Japan  sent  not  long  ago 

10 


WHY    MEN    STUDY    THE    BIBLE 

to  a  large  conference  of  college  men  meeting 
in  North  America:  " Japan  leading  Orient, 
but  whither! " 

Bible  study  corrects  our  individual  stand- 
ards and  measurements.  It  spreads  out  be- 
fore us  God's  plan  for  human  existence.  It 
helps  men  to  put  first  things  first;  to  see  big 
things  big,  and  small  things  small.  A  habit 
of  Bible  study  is  a  daily  hint  that  "man 
shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every 
word  which  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of 
God."  To  the  Bible  men  have  come  in  all 
times  to  find  those  life  visions,  where,  in 
Matthew  Arnold's  words: 


The  eye  sinks  inward,  and  the  heart  lies  plain, 
And  what  we  say  we  mean,  and  what  we  would,  we 

know. 
A  man  becomes  aware  of  his  life's  flow, 
And  hears  its  winding  murmur;  and  he  sees 
The  meadows  where  it  glides,  the  sun,  the  breeze 


And  then  he  thinks  he  knows 
The  hills  where  his  life  rose, 
And  the  sea  where  it  goes. 

11 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

IV — The  Church  and  the  Bible 
To  be  sure,  the  Bible  is  no  longer  chained 
to  the  altar  as  in  the  medieval  days,  but  it 
has  not  really  come  to  its  own  among  the 
thinking  men  of  the  church.  As  yet  a  be- 
ginning only  has  been  made.  In  certain  sec- 
tions of  our  country  we  find  a  lack  of 
Bible  study  among  men  in  the  church  which 
is  fairly  pitiable.  In  short,  it  would  be 
almost  a  misnomer  to  speak  of  it  as  Bible 
study.  In  many  churches  one  is  imprest  not 
so  much  with  a  wrong  method  of  Bible  study 
as  the  entire  neglect  of  the  whole  question. 
In  the  minds  of  many  men  the  Bible  is  still 
a  recondite  granary  of  mystifying  and  other- 
worldly facts.  By  many  the  Book  has  never 
really  been  discovered  as  a  modern  guide  to 
personal  living,  or  as  a  practical  motive  to 
service.  But  the  results  of  modern  Biblical 
thought  and  research  are  pressing  rapidly 
into  common  and  universal  knowledge.  The 
Christian  ignores  them  at  the  peril  of  being 
both  benighted  and  ridiculous.  A  mission- 
ary told  me  in  India  last  year,  that  one  of 

12 


WHY    MEN    STUDY    THE    BIBLE 

the  first  needs  with  which  he  was  confronted 
as  he  arrived  in  the  Orient  was  the  insistent 
necessity  of  a  thorough  mastery  and  inter- 
pretation of  the  Bible.  He  found  that  the 
heathen  world  knew  the  Book  of  his  religion 
more  perfectly  than  he  knew  it.  In  fact, 
many  of  these  people  had  studied  it,  he  said, 
more  carefully  than  they  had  studied  their 
own  sacred  vedas. 

In  some  way  the  church  must  get  its  men 
interested  in  the  Bible.  This  task,  like  other 
important  tasks,  is  not  easy.  As  we  visit 
churches  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  the 
question  arises:  How  many  pastors  and 
leaders  have  really  tried  to  enlist  men  in  the 
study  of  this  Book?  The  interesting  of  men 
in  the  Bible  involves  able  and  courageous 
leadership,  the  study  of  methods,  Bible 
courses  and  literature,  business  ability, 
money,  sacrifice,  patience,  and,  beneath  all, 
an  unquenchable  conviction  that  God's  rev- 
elation in  His  Word  is  eternally  worth  while. 

The  church  needs  able,  broad-minded, 
godly  men  to  teach  the  Bible  in  men's  Bible 

13 


THE   BIBLE   AND  MODERN  LIFE 

classes,  in  the  Bible  school,  and  in  connec- 
tion with  discussional  groups  outside  the 
churches.  Who  will  be  responsible  for  the 
bringing  of  the  Bible  to  thoughtful  young 
men?  This  is  a  question  which  must  be  an- 
swered by  representative  laymen  of  the 
church,  by  students  in  our  colleges,  by  college 
graduates,  and  by  the  modern  ministry. 
Here  is  a  calling  of  great  importance — a 
teaching  ministry.  To  popularize  and  dignify 
the  Bible  in  the  hearts  of  young  men  is  one 
of  the  church's  opportunities  in  this  genera- 
tion. Without  real  Bible  study  the  church 
loses  objective  and  spiritual  dynamic.  To 
the  church,  primarily,  the  Bible  is  the  Book 
of  Life. 

V — Modem  Call  for  Character 
Above  all  the  voices  of  our  times  one 
discerns  the  call  for  character.  Politics, 
business,  commerce,  and  religion  are  under 
the  search-light  of  moral  reform.  A  new 
and  wide-spread  reassessment  of  men's 
characters  and  motives  is  now  proceeding. 

14 


WHY    MEN    STUDY    THE    BIBLE 

There  never  was  a  greater  demand  than  at 
present  for  men  whose  honesty  and  devotion 
are  not  measurable  in  dollars  and  cents. 
Among  men  who  really  shape  the  creeds  and 
the  progress  of  nations,  there  is  decreasing 
faith  in  that  mammon  gospel  which  Carlyle 
said  was  "driven  by  galvanism  and  possest 
by  the  devil.' ' 

The  Bible  is  the  first  book  npon  ethics. 
The  moral  codes  of  the  Christian  Scriptures 
have  worn  well  and  are  still  operative. 
Eighteousness,  which  continues  to  be  the 
eternal  foundation  of  nations,  is  the  ground- 
work of  the  Bible.  The  Bible  strikes  down 
injustice  and  wrong  wherever  these  are 
found.  It  is  the  book  of  right,  of  integrity, 
of  sincerity,  and  reality.  Its  words  are 
"true,  and  righteous  altogether." 

The  Bible  assists  in  character-forming  be- 
cause it  reveals  us  to  ourselves  as  we  really 
are.  It  is  peculiarly  personal.  The  re- 
sponse of  the  soul  to  the  Bible  message  is 
"search  me,  0  God,  and  know  my  heart." 
Herein  lie  the  riches  of  a  personal,  daily 

15 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

habit  of  Bible  study.  Coleridge  says,  "The 
Bible  inspires  me."  Carlyle  regarded  true 
greatness  as  depending  entirely  upon  the 
capacity  of  the  individual  for  moral  and 
spiritual  development.  The  message  of  the 
Scriptures  is  directly  related,  not  only  to 
spiritual  truth,  but  to  such  truth  in  applica- 
tion to  the  individual. 

The  Bible  makes  character  by  helping 
men  in  their  moral  battles.  It  shows  men 
their  real  battle-ground,  which  is  not  always 
a  field  of  dollars.  It  paints  sin  as  it  is. 
It  reveals  life  roughened  by  tragedies.  But 
it  not  only  points  out  the  rocks  in  life's 
voyage,  it  keeps  men  steady  at  the  wheel 
when  there  are  no  sun  or  stars  in  sight. 
Bible  study  leads  to  a  life  of  prayer.  It 
saturates  the  mind  and  heart  with  a  spir- 
itual atmosphere  in  which  high  consider- 
ations are  natural  and  possible.  The  Psalms 
of  David  have  saved  many  a  shipwrecked 
soul  with  their  songs  in  the  night.  A  student 
told  me  recently  that  the  following  words 
redeemed  his  life:    "Tho  he  fall,  he  shall 

16 


i  1b! 


p  »  S  ?  c 

i  -3  ,7  n:  u 

3  o  — '  « 

2  .,  «  s 


J        «    en 
H       2     = 


4-1         (A 

5    5 


WHY    MEN    STUDY    THE    BIBLE 

not  be  utterly  cast  down,  for  Jehovah  up- 
holdeth  him  with  his  hand." 

It  is,  however,  by  giving  added  force  to 
the  will  that  the  Bible  especially  strengthens 
character.  The  character  of  Jesus  was 
unique  in  that  He  combined  high  vision  with 
the  ability  to  make  that  vision  real.  Many 
a  biography  has  been  the  tragic  story  of  a 
high  endowment  but  an  insufficient  will. 
What  a  man  has  power  to  will  and  to  do,  and 
to  continue  to  do,  decides  his  destiny.  John 
Foster  describes  character  as  that  "  which 
expresses  the  habitual  tenor  of  a  man's  active 
being.' ' 

No  man  can  read  and  study  the  Bible  with 
regularity  without  feeling  a  new  decision 
gathering  force  in  his  life.  A  friend  of  mine 
has  the  habit  of  rushing  to  his  New  Testa- 
ment in  times  of  temptation  and  reading  two 
chapters  to  fortify  his  resistance  force.  A 
sufficient  reason  for  the  renewed  Bible  inter- 
est of  to-day  is  in  the  fact  that  the  Bible  has 
always  been  associated  with  the  formation 
and  growth  of  decisive  Christian  character. 

17 


THE  BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

VI — The  Bible  and  Religion 
Superior  to  all  other  values,  however, 
which  the  Bible  is  bringing  to  thoughtful 
men  of  this  generation,  is  the  value  lying  in 
the  realm  of  creative  ideals.  The  faith  rep- 
resented in  the  New  Testament,  the  faith 
that  John  says  "overcomes  the  world' '  is 
the  faith,  first  of  all,  in  a  person.  The  dif- 
ference between  the  mere  religionist  and  the 
Bible  religionist  is  not  so  much  in  the  men- 
tal process  or  operation  as  in  the  object  of 
his  faith.  Jesus  reached  the  potential  energy 
of  the  soul.  Jesus  provoked  values.  He 
created  and  aroused  thoughts,  feelings,  pos- 
sibilities which  men  never  dreamed  they 
had.  By  His  absorbing  interest  in  men  He 
laid  hold  upon  the  essence  of  their  hidden 
resources.  "I  make  all  things  new." 
He  created  for  a  discouraged  and  despair- 
ing heart,  locked  up  within  itself,  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth.  His  name  was 
Healer,  Friend.  In  His  presence  there  was 
always  hope.  He  brought  out  the  defaced 
ideals.     He  broke   the   fetters   of   sin   and 

18 


WHY    MEN    STUDY    THE    BIBLE 

lifted  men  out  of  the  sloughs  of  carnality 
and  commonplace  and  enabled  them  to  be- 
lieve in  the  value  of  their  souls.  It  is  one 
thing  to  say  to  a  man  with  a  withered  hand : 
"Yes,  your  hand  is  withered.  Too  bad."  It 
is  quite  another  thing  to  say,  as  Jesus  did: 
"Stretch  forth  thy  hand."  Faith  in  Him 
empowers  our  wills. 

After  all,  it  is  upon  such  great  quest  that 
men  go  to  the  Bible  to-day,  as  they  have 
gone  in  other  years.  The  great  secret  of  the 
growing  power  of  Bible  study  lies  in  the  fact 
that  it  satisfies  this  craving  for  the  recrea- 
tion of  the  soul's  life. 

It  may  be  true  that  materialism  has  low- 
ered the  tone  of  our  journalism,  has  put  the 
table  of  the  money-changers  in  the  council- 
hall,  and  even  in  the  church;  yet  the  great 
counter-fact  remains,  even  the  search  of  the 
mind  and  heart  of  the  modern  man  for  the 
living  God.  This  age  is  not  an  infidel's  age. 
Wholesale  ridicule  of  serious  things  is  un- 
popular. We  find  in  many  parts  of  the  conti- 
nent, in  spite  of  the  indifference  and  easy 

19 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

living  of  men  " untouched  by  a  spark,' '  that 
it  is  a  time  of  search  for  spiritual  truth  and 
that  men  will  listen  with  eager  hearts  to  those 
who  have  been  in  the  presence  of  Christ  and 
can  come  saying,  " Never  man  so  spake." 


90 


Chapter  II 
COLLEGE,  CHUECH,  AND  BIBLE 


21 


Charles  Dickens  placed  a  Bible  in  his  son's  trunk  as 
his  boy  went  to  become  a  colonist  in  Australia.  He  after- 
ward wrote  to  him:  "I  put  a  New  Tesatment  among 
your  books  for  the  very  same  reason  and  with  the  very 
same  hopes  that  made  me  write  an  easy  account  of  it  for 
you  when  you  were  a  little  child,  because  it  is  the  best 
book  that  ever  was  or  will  be  known  in  the  world,  and 
because  it  teaches  you  the  best  lessons  by  which  any 
human  creature  who  tries  to  be  faithful  and  truthful  to 
duty  can  possibly  be  guided. " 

For  centuries  the  Prophets  have  been  ignored  as  mys- 
terious oracles,  honored  and  valued  merely  for  the  pre- 
cious texts  and  sayings  which  sparkled  like  rare  and 
brilliant  gems  upon  the  dim,  obscure  surface  of  an  unex- 
plored literature.  Modern  scholarship  has  laid  bare  their 
intimate  relation  to  the  political  and  social  problems  of 

the    day There    has    been    no    more    helpful, 

no  more  stimulating  exegetical  work  done  by  modern  crit- 
ical scholars  than  the  treatment  of  the  Prophets  by  Driver, 
George  Adam  Smith,  Kirkpatrick,  and  Ottley. 

— Bishop  op  Winchester 

To  the  Bible  men  will  return  because  they  can  not  do 
without  it. 

— Matthew  Arnold 

The  law  of  Jehovah  is  perfect,  restoring  the  soul : 

The  testimony  of  Jehovah  is  sure,  making  wise  the  simple. 

The  precepts  of  Jehovah  are  right,  rejoicing  the  heart: 

The  commandment  of  Jehovah  is  pure,  enlightening  the 
eyes. 

The  fear  of  Jehovah  is  clean,  enduring  for  ever: 

The  ordinances  of  Jehovah  are  true,  and  righteous  alto- 
gether. 

More  to  be  desired  are  they  than  gold,  yea,  than  much 
fine  gold; 

Sweeter  also  than  honey  and  the  droppings  of  the  honey- 
comb. 

Moreover  by  them  is  thy  servant  warned: 

In  keeping  them  there  is  great  reward. 

—Psalm  19:  7-11 


29 


Chapter  II 

COLLEGE,  CHURCH,  AND  BIBLE 

I — Bible  Study  in  Colleges 

College  men  are  becoming  increasingly  in- 
terested in  the  Bible. 

During  the  college  year  1910-11  the  stu- 
dents of  North  America  conducted  fifty 
Bible  Institutes,  especially  for  the  purpose 
of  training  student  Bible  teachers,  and  for 
the  study  of  the  best  methods,  courses,  and 
men,  to  be  employed  in  the  promotion  of 
Bible  interest  among  the  half -million  of  col- 
lege, preparatory,  and  high-school  students 
of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  These  in- 
stitutes usually  extended  over  three  days, 
and  meetings  were  held  with  all  divisions  of 
the  student  life — faculty  men,  fraternity 
men,  athletic  students,  Bible  teachers,  pas- 
tors, Sunday-school  workers  in  the  college 
town,    and   officers   and   committees   of   the 


23 


THE   BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

college  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 
In  addition  there  were  held  large  public  as- 
semblies where  the  modern  movement  for 
Bible  study  was  brought  before  the  entire 
student  body.  Many  of  these  Bible  Institutes 
were  attended  by  delegates  from  the  principal 
institutions  of  learning  in  a  State  or  section, 
thus  affording  an  excellent  opportunity  to 
exchange  experiences  in  both  the  dynamic 
and  the  technical  branches  of  Bible  propa- 
ganda. The  following  subjects  of  a  recent 
Bible  Institute,  held  at  Iowa  State  College, 
will  be  found  suggestive : 

Place  and  Function  of  Bible  Study  in  College  Life. 

Essential  Relations  of  the  Bible-study  Leader:  (1)  The 
Leader  in  Relation  to  the  Truth.  (2)  The  Leader  in 
Relation  to  the  Book.  (3)  The  Leader  in  Relation  to 
the  Student. 

A  Specimen  Class  Hour — Group  1 :  Life  of  Paul.  Group 
2:  Life  of  Christ.  Group  3:  Social  Significance  of 
Jesus'  Teachings.    Group  4:  The  Will  of  God. 

Why  Fraternity  Men  Should  Study  the  Bible. 

What  Bible  Study  Has  Meant  to  Our  Fraternity.  (A 
Testimony.) 

Fraternity  Bible  Study  from  the  Standpoint  of  an  En- 
gineer.   (By  a  Dean  of  Division  of  Engineering.) 

04 


COLLEGE,    CHURCH,   AND    BIBLE 

Why  Our  Fraternity  is  Planning  to  Study  the  Bible. 

(A  Testimony.) 
Ways  and  Means  of  Promoting  Bible  Study  Among 

Fraternity  Men. 
Relation  of  the  Student  to  the  Church  Bible  Class. 
Duty    of   the    Church    to   Provide    Constructive    Bible 

Study  Work  for  the  Student. 
Ways  and  Means  of  Promoting  Church  Bible  Classes 

for  Students. 
Some  Fundamental  Objectives  of  Bible  Study. 
Evangelism,  One  Great  Objective  of  Bible  Study. 
The  Place  of  Habitual  Bible  Study  in  the  Development 

of  the  Strongest  Character. 
Bible  Study,  a  Constructive  Factor  in  College  Life. 
What  Can  the  Faculty  Member  Do  to  Promote  Bible 

Study? 
Bible  Study  the  World  Around. 

It  is  of  critical  importance  to  the  church 
to  know  how  wide-spread  is  this  Bible  inter- 
est among  all  classes  of  North  American 
institutions.  The  State  institutions  which 
possess  little  opportunity  to  impress  moral 
or  religious  truth  directly  through  the  cur- 
riculum, are  among  the  leaders  in  this  volun- 
tary Bible-study  uprising. 

The  list  given  herewith  of  twenty-five  in- 
stitutions of  widely  varying  types,  is  striking 

25 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 


evidence  of  the  fact  that  the  college  man  is 
truly  aroused  to  the  value  and  to  the  modern 
means  of  Bible  study: 


Institution 

(Number  of 

>> 

3  5 

men  m 
indicated  in 

institution 
parentheses  ) 

go  a 

as 

WW 

Continu 

Two  Mo 

or  Mo 

0) 

Eh 

University  of  Toronto  (3,305) 

University  of  Texas   (1,225) 

University  of  Illinois  (2,900) 

University  of  Pennsylvania  (5,389)  . . . 

Iowa  State  College   (1,600) 

Yale  University  (3,282) 

Pennsylvania  State  College  (1,632)  . . 

Cornell  University  (3,800) 

Princeton   University    (1,442) 

Mississippi  Agricultural  College  (1,085) 

University  of  Wisconsin  (2,800) 

Clemson  Agricultural  College  (700) . . . 

Stanford  University   (1,247) 

Columbia  University  (2,736) 

Georgia  School  of  Technology  (648).. 

Dartmouth   College    (1,217) 

William  Jewell  College  (525) 

United  States  Naval  Academy  (774).. 
United  States  Military  Acad.   (419) . . 

Syracuse  University  (1,625) 

Lafayette  College  (520) 

Northwestern  College  (265) 

Emory  and  Henry  College  (215) 

Keystone  State  Normal  School  (250) . . 

University  of  Virginia  (718) 

Lawrenceville  School   (400) 


860 

576 

600 

500 

750 

400 

1157 

527 

800 

700 

950 

850 

650 

1050 

650 

641 

488 

555 

350 

325 

175 

348 

263 

268 

240 

280 

218 

276 

248 

353 

300 

125 

115 

340 

200 

255 

227 

241 

180 

135 

160 

160 

180 

170 

80 

80 

215 

150 

20 

20 

Furthermore,    this    movement    has    been 
largely  guided  by   the  best  undergraduate 

26 


w     z 


u  m  > 

2;  >  •£ 

<  *  T 

-^  09  - 


COLLEGE,    CHURCH,   AND    BIBLE 

leadership  of  our  institutions.  It  is  not  an 
enterprise  for  the  mollycoddle  or  for  those 
students  simply  who  would  be  expected  to 
be  interested.  It  has  reached  students  of  all 
classes  of  opinion,  of  all  races,  of  all  voca- 
tions. No  one  can  contemplate  the  sweep  of 
this  great  awakening  in  the  appended  facts, 
which  have  recently  been  secured  from  the 
student  constituency  of  this  country  and 
Canada,  without  gathering  new  hope  for  the 
college,  for  the  church,  and  for  the  life  of 
to-day : 

28,562  men  were  reported  by  490  institutions  as  having 

attended  Bible  classes  for  two  months  or  more. 

9,089  men  followed  habits  of  daily  Bible  study  in  338 

institutions. 
6,156  non-Christian  men  were  reported  in  Bible  classes 

in  302  institutions. 
5,061  fraternity  men  were  reported  studying  the  Bible 

in  120  institutions. 
2,308  students  led  Bible  groups  in  306  institutions. 
2,272  of  these  leaders  were  in  attendance  at  305  nor- 
mal classes  in  139  institutions. 
800  faculty  men  cooperated  in  the  Bible-study  work 
in  295  institutions. 

27 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIEE 

1,252  college   men   were   led  into   the   Christian   life 
through  Bible  classes  in  101  institutions. 
33,657  Bible-study  text-books  were  purchased. 

185  Bible  study  reference  libraries  were  available  in 
142  institutions. 

That  the  busiest  students  in  the  colleges 
have  time  for  Bible  study  is  evidenced  by 
the  number  of  men  in  Bible  classes  last  year 
who  held  prominent  positions  in  college  life. 
These  included : 

1,522  Members  of  'Varsity  Football  Teams. 
1,454  Members  of  College  Glee  Clubs. 

653  Editors  of  College  Papers. 
1,402  Members  of  'Varsity  Baseball  Teams. 

755  Class  Presidents. 

983  Prize  and  Scholarship  Men. 

712  Members  of  'Varsity  Basketball  Teams. 
92  Members  of  'Varsity  Crews. 
1,053  Members  of  'Varsity  Track  Teams. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  eighteen 
national  movements,  comprizing  the  World's 
Student  Christian  Federation,  engaged  in 
similar  promotion  of  voluntary  Bible  study 
last  year. 

28 


COLLEGE,    CHURCH,   AND   BIBLE 

II — Church  Bible  Study 
The  church,  also,  through  the  Sunday- 
school,  is  taking  fresh  hold  upon  the  Bible. 
The  following  statistical  facts,  recorded  at 
the  World's  Sixth  Sunday-school  Conven- 
tion, held  in  Washington,  D.  C,  are  impress- 
ive: 

Number  of  Sunday-schools  in  the  United  States, 
150,455.  Number  of  officers  and  teachers,  1,544,455. 
Number  of  scholars,  12,777,739.  Total  enrolment,  14,- 
322,194.  Average  enrolment  per  school,  95.  Popula- 
tion, 90,000,000.    Number  population  per  school,  599. 

Number  of  Sunday-schools  in  Canada,  10,211.  Num- 
ber of  officers  and  teachers,  84,675.  Number  of  scholars, 
733,135.  Total  enrolment,  817,810.  Average  enrolment 
per  school,  80.  Population,  5,371,315.  Number  of  pop- 
ulation per  school,  526. 

The  total  statistics  for  Sunday-schools  of 
the  world,  according  to  late  reports,  are  as 
follows : 

Number  of  Sunday-schools,  285,999.  Number  of  of- 
ficers and  teachers,  2,607,371.  Number  of  scholars,  25,- 
403,823.  Total  enrolment,  28,011,194.  Average  enrol- 
ment per  school,  98.  Population,  1,624,321,004.  Number 
of  population  per  school,  5,680. 

Stockport,  England,  seems  to  be  credited 

29 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

with  the  largest  school,  with  235  men  teach- 
ers, 295  women  teachers,  and  4,824  scholars, 
making  a  total  of  5,354.  Two  of  America's 
Sunday-schools  follow  closely  in  point  of  nu- 
merical success :  the  Bethany  school,  of  Phila- 
delphia, with  a  total  reported  membership  of 
5,215,  and  one  at  Brazil,  Ind.,  reporting 
4,892. 

The  Sunday-school  is  also  recasting  its 
methods  and  revising  its  appeals  to  all 
classes.  It  is  paying  particular  attention  to 
its  adult  department,  with  the  result  that 
over  one-half  million  of  young  men  were  re- 
lated to  the  Sunday-school  and  church  last 
year  through  membership  in  the  large  or- 
ganized Bible  classes  for  men.  It  is  not  un- 
common in  our  larger  churches  to  find  300 
or  400  and  sometimes  as  many  as  500  men 
enrolled  in  a  single  class.  In  the  city  of 
Bochester  it  is  reported  that  1,000  men 
meet  in  four  such  organized  Bible  classes 
each  Sunday  morning,  in  four  churches 
within  a  radius  of  one  mile.  The  accession 
to  the  church  from  such  classes,  both  in  actual 

30 


COLLEGE,    CHURCH,   AND    BIBLE 

membership,  and  through  many  avenues  of 
service,  is  quite  inestimable. 

Ill — Cooperative  Bible  Study  the  Next  Step 
The  question  of  vital  moment  now  be- 
comes: How  shall  these  two  great  streams 
of  Bible  interest  in  church  and  school  be 
united?  The  college  man  is  interested  in 
Bible  study  in  the  college,  and  he  is  securing 
invaluable  training  as  a  teacher  and  or- 
ganizer. What  is  he  to  do  in  the  church  both 
during  his  college  days  and  after  gradua- 
tion? The  pastor  and  the  Christian  Sunday- 
school  worker  are  becoming  increasingly 
enthusiastic  over  Bible  enterprises  in  the 
environment  of  the  church.  Do  they  feel 
any  obligation  for  Bible  study  in  the  pre- 
paratory school  or  college  when  the  church 
is  located  in  a  college  town?  Are  they  think- 
ing and  planning  to  give  the  students  of  the 
college  a  definite  place  in  church  Bible  pro- 
grams? These  questions  suggest  the  next 
step  in  the  advanced  Bible  movement  of  our 
times. 

31 


THE  BIBLE  AND   MODERN   LIFE 

I  suggest  five  ways  by  which  such  indis- 
pensable union  may  be  accomplished.  These 
hints  are  based  upon  work  now  in  progress 
in  various  places,  and  which  is  bringing  to- 
gether the  church  and  college  in  Bible  study. 

IV — How  Can  the  Church  and  School 
Work  Together? 
First— A  cooperating  committee  consist- 
ing of  five  or  six  members  in  a  college  town, 
including  pastor,  Sunday-school  superin- 
tendent, faculty  man,  a  student  leader  of 
the  college  Bible  movement,  and  the  general 
secretary  of  the  college  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association,  when  such  an  officer  is  em- 
ployed. At  Ames,  Iowa,  where  Iowa  State 
College  is  located,  such  a  committee  has  been 
able  to  correlate  the  Bible  work  for  students 
in  a  successful  manner.  When  I  visited  this 
institution  recently,  160  students  were  meet- 
ing in  Bible  classes  in  the  church,  and  at  least 
400  were  in  classes  in  the  college  environ- 
ment. Each  section  knew  what  the  other 
section  was  doing.    Bible  courses  and  meth- 


COLLEGE,    CHURCH,   AND    BIBLE 

ods  were  suited  to  students  meeting  in 
churches,  as  to  students  meeting  on  the  cam- 
pus. Pastors  were  helping  in  the  college 
Bible  classes  and  the  student  workers  were 
cooperating  in  forming  and  promoting  the 
church  classes. 

Second — Enlistment  of  college  graduates 
in  church  Bible  study  in  our  large  cities. 
Many  a  city  pastor  writes  to  me  asking  how 
he  can  obtain  and  maintain  the  interest  and 
service  of  college  alumni  in  the  Bible  cause 
of  the  city  church. 

One  of  the  first  needs  is  to  study  the  local 
church  needs  relative  to  engaging  college 
men's  attention.  Has  the  church  something 
concrete  and  practical  enough  to  engage  the 
graduate's  time  and  sacrifice?  He  is  used 
to  definite  tasks  and  often  conducts  Bible 
campaigns  of  some  proportion  in  college. 
He  responds  when  he  is  invited  to  take 
specific  work,  such  as  leading  Bible  groups 
or  forming  boys'  clubs  for  study,  service,  and 
athletics.  The  college  man,  fresh  from  school, 
enjoys    studying    and    applying    the    social 

33 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

principles  of  Christianity.  He  would  be 
lured  into  taking  leadership  of  such  Bible 
movements  in  the  church  as  those  of  organ- 
izing and  leading  campaigns  for  small  Bible 
classes ;  forming  large  organized  Bible  classes 
for  men ;  training  Bible  teachers  in  the  life  of 
Christ ;  or  in  the  social  and  political  teachings 
of  the  Bible;  securing  up-to-date  reference 
books  for  Sunday-school  classes;  organizing 
young  people's  societies  for  Bible  study  and 
mission  study ;  and  assisting  in  making  serv- 
iceable the  Bible  study  in  the  church  by  en- 
listing Bible-class  members  in  social,  re- 
ligious, or  mission  work  in  the  town. 

The  definite  and  valuable  contribution 
rendered  by  college  graduates  in  New  York 
City,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Orrin 
Cocks,  graduate  secretary  of  the  New  York 
City  Intercollegiate  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  may  be  stimulating  to  those  in- 
terested in  this  problem: 

A  Cornell  man,  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  the 
Graduate  Department,  has  seen  the  opportunity  to  serve 
Christ  during  the  past  years  in  a  more  satisfactory  way 

34 


COLLEGE,    CHURCH.   AND    BIBLE 

than  as  an  engineer,  and  has  taken  a  position  as  sec- 
retary in  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  outside 
of  New  York. 

Another  graduate  of  very  good  family  has  had  his 
eyes  opened  to  the  social  needs  of  the  city  through  con- 
versations, trips,  and  work,  and  has  lately  become  a 
director  of  a  settlement  among  the  needy. 

A  technology  graduate  said,  after  a  trip  among  the 
missions,  settlements,  and  tenements  on  the  East  Side, 
that  he  had  received  more  from  that  trip  than  from  any 
course  he  had  taken  in  college. 

An  Oberlin  man  decided,  after  several  weeks'  discus- 
sion of  moral  problems  of  the  day  at  the  Graduate 
House,  that  he  would  give  his  spare  time  to  an  East 
Side  settlement,  and  is  now  in  residence. 

A  Cornell  man,  who  was  somewhat  careless  and  in- 
different in  college,  has  been  slowly  coming  to  a  reali- 
zation of  his  religious  needs,  and  was  approached  about 
a  definite  bit  of  work.  In  the  course  of  the  conversa- 
tion, he  agreed  that  this  was  the  one  thing  he  needed, 
and  is  now  growing  into  the  lives  of  a  number  of  young 
men  in  a  Brooklyn  Settlement. 

Third — Training  classes  in  colleges  taught 
by  ministers  and  leading  laymen  who  are 
college  graduates. 

Last  college  year  there  were  2,308  stu- 
dents leading  Bible  groups  in  North  Amer- 
ican colleges.    Such  students  must  be  trained 

35 


THE   BIBLE   AND  MODERN   LIFE 

if  the  groups  are  to  succeed  in  maintaining 
the  interest  of  the  men  through  the  year. 
There  were  305  Bible-training  classes  in  col- 
leges last  year ;  there  should  have  been  double 
the  number  to  cover  adequately  the  different 
courses  of  study  pursued.  Here  is  the  oppor- 
tunity for  men  of  mature  minds  and  special 
Bible  training.  A  clergyman  would  hardly 
have  a  greater,  a  more  multiplying,  or  a  more 
strategic  privilege  than  that  of  meeting  for 
an  hour  of  training  each  week  ten  young  stu- 
dent Bible  teachers,  who  in  turn  are  to  teach 
100  other  students.  Many  ministers  are  at 
present  helping  to  solve  the  question  of  the 
relation  of  the  church  and  college  in  their 
communities  by  interesting  themselves  in  stu- 
dents, and,  in  person,  forming  a  living  bond 
between  town  and  gown. 

Fourth — Faculty  men  teaching  Bible 
classes  and  training  classes  in  the  church. 
The  church  should  find  teachers  of  the  Bible 
in  college  professors  and  in  college  instruct- 
ors. At  a  recent  meeting  of  faculty  men, 
which  I  attended  in  a  large  State  university, 

36 


U     4) 

5   I5 


COLLEGE,   CHURCH,   AND   BIBLE 

fourteen  professors  volunteered  to  teach 
Bible  classes,  a  number  of  them  saying  they 
had  for  some  time  been  desirous  to  do  some- 
thing of  this  sort,  but  had  not  before  been 
confronted  by  a  definite  call  to  a  definite 
class.  There  were  800  such  professors  ac- 
tively engaged  in  Bible-study  organization 
and  teaching  in  the  colleges  last  year.  There 
were,  however,  several  thousand  additional 
Christian  faculty  men  whose  life  work  is 
teaching,  who  were  not  enlisted  in  teaching 
the  greatest  literature  in  the  world— the 
Book  wherein,  Carlyle  said,  "for  thousands 
of  years  the  spirit  of  man  has  found  light 
and  nourishment,  and  the  response  to  what- 
ever was  deepest  in  his  heart/ ' 

A  little  inquiry  on  the  part  of  church- 
members  would  discover  the  men  from  the 
faculty  who  would  be  best  fitted  for  such 
Bible  teaching  in  the  church.  Many  college 
professors  of  my  acquaintance  are  teaching 
the  Bible  in  university  towns  with  church 
denominations  other  than  their  own.  As  a 
certain  professor  exprest  it:    "I  am  inter- 

37 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

ested  in  presenting  the  Bible  to  people  who 
have  not  discovered  it,  more  than  I  am  in- 
terested in  the  name  of  the  church  where  I 
teach. ' ' 

Fifth — Appointment  of  pastors  and  Sun- 
day-school superintendents  who  can  interest 
college  people.  In  the  final  analysis  coopera- 
tive success  is  personal  success.  Some  pas- 
tors and  some  superintendents  never  get  the 
cooperation  of  college  men  or  faculty  men 
because  their  type  does  not  attract  the  aca- 
demic constituency.  This  may  be  the  fault  of 
the  college  community  equally  with  the 
church  community.  However,  it  is  one  of 
the  most  stubborn  and  apparent  facts  in  the 
way  of  this  successful  Bible  cooperation  in 
many  sections  of  the  world.  You  can  get 
the  college  man's  respect  at  long  range,  but 
you  will  seldom  get  his  active,  glad  service 
in  a  college  church  whose  pastor  and  type 
of  workers  are  utterly  unlike  his  type  in 
their  attitude  of  mind  and  methods  of  work. 
Sympathetic  and  intelligent  appreciation  and 
breadth  of  view  must  be  added  to  depth  of 

38 


COLLEGE,    CHURCH,   AND    BIBLE 

conviction  on  both  sides,  if  we  are  to  secure 
such  union  of  education  and  religion  as  the 
Bible  needs  in  our  time.  I  realize  that  we 
are  near  the  heart  of  our  difficulty  here,  and 
that  it  is  a  matter  for  church  councils  and 
synods  and  local  parishes.  It  is  a  question 
which  is  lifted  out  of  triteness  and  inepti- 
tude because  of  its  transcendent  importance. 
The  pastor  himself — his  kind,  his  example, 
his  temper,  his  ability — yes,  the  spirit  of  the 
church  as  a  whole  in  a  given  community,  these 
are  the  facts  which  concern  first  and  chiefly 
the  college  man,  the  church,  and  the  Bible. 


39 


Chaptee  III 

BIBLE  STUDY  AMONG  MEN  IN  THE 
ORIENT 


-ii 


Written  in  the  East,  these  characters  live  forever  in 
the  West;  written  in  one  province,  they  pervade  the 
world;  penned  in  rude  times,  they  are  prized  more  and 
more  as  civilization  advances;  product  of  antiquity,  they 
come  home  to  the  business  and  bosoms  of  men,  women,  and 
children  in  modern  days.  Then  is  it  any  exaggeration  to 
say  that  the  ' '  characters  of  Scripture  are  a  marvel  of  the 
mind"? 

— Eobert  Louis  Stevenson 

Consider  the  great  historical  fact  that  for  three  cen- 
turies this  book  has  been  woven  into  the  life  of  all  that 
is  best  and  noblest  in  English  history;  that  it  has  become 
the  national  epic  of  Britain,  and  is  familiar  to  noble  and 
simple  from  John  o'  Groat's  House  to  Land's  End,  as 
Dante  and  Tasso  were  once  to  the  Italians;  that  it  is 
written  in  the  noblest  and  purest  English,  and  abounds 
in  exquisite  beauties  of  a  merely  literary  form;  and,  fi- 
nally, that  it  forbids  the  veriest  hind  who  never  left  his 
village  to  be  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  other  countries 
and  other  civilizations,  and  of  a  great  past,  stretching 
back  to  the  furthest  limits  of  the  oldest  nations  of  the 
world. 

By  the  study  of  what  other  book  could  children  be  so 
much  humanized,  and  made  to  feel  that  each  figure  in 
that  vast  historical  procession  fills,  like  themselves,  but 
a  momentary  space  in  the  interval  between  two  eternities, 
and  earns  the  blessings  or  the  curses  of  all  time,  according 
to  its  efforts  to  do  good  and  hate  evil,  even  as  they  also 
are  earning  their  payment  for  their  work? 

— Huxley 

It  lives  on  the  ear  like  a  music  that  can  never  be  for- 
gotten, like  the  sound  of  church-bells  which  the  convert 
scarcely  knows  how  he  can  forego.  .  .  .  The  memory 
of  the  dead  passes  into  it.  The  potent  traditions  of  child- 
hood are  stereotyped  in  its  verses.  It  is  the  representative 
of  a  man's  best  moments;  all  that  there  is  about  him  of 
soft  and  gentle  and  pure  and  penitent  and  good  speaks  to 
him  forever  out  of  his  English  Bible.  It  is  his  sacred 
thing  which  doubt  never  dimmed  and  controversy  never 
soiled;  and  in  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  there 
is  not  a  Protestant  with  one  spark  of  religiousness  about 
him  whose  spiritual  biography  is  not  in  his  Saxon  Bible. 

— Faber 

42 


Chapter  III 

BIBLE  STUDY  AMONG  MEN  IN  THE 
ORIENT 

I — Signs  of  Awakening  Bible  Interest 

The  Bible  is  rapidly  acquiring  a  position 
of  preeminence  among  the  college  men  of 
the  East.  In  three  nations  of  the  Orient 
during  the  past  year  national  committees  of 
Bible  scholars  have  been  formed  with  the 
express  purpose  of  preparing,  in  the  native 
languages,  Bible  courses  and  literature  suit- 
able for  Bible  students. 

In  Japan  the  first  result  of  this  Bible 
committee's  work  has  been  a  course  of 
studies  in  Japanese  on  "The  Social  Teach- 
ings of  Jesus,' '  prepared  by  Professor  Y. 
Chiba.  This  Bible  course  has  been  arranged 
especially  for  use  in  small  groups.  It  is  the 
first  series  of  studies  which  has  been  written 
with  this  design  for  Japanese  students.  A 
booklet   has    also   been    issued    by    another 

43 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

member  of  this  committee,  Professor  H. 
Yoshizaki,  entitled  " Bible  Study  in  Small 
Groups.' '  Still  another  booklet  by  Pres- 
ident King,  of  Oberlin,  has  been  translated 
by  Mr.  N.  Niwa,  the  title  of  which  is  "Bible 
Study  the  Great  Way  Into  Life's  Values." 

In  the  city  of  Shanghai  in  the  autumn  of 
1910  a  Bible  institute,  held  for  three  days, 
was  attended  by  3,000  Chinese  young  men. 
An  extensive  series  of  Bible  institutes  sim- 
ilar to  this  one  was  arranged  with  much 
care  for  the  next  college  year.  These  insti- 
tutes will  reach  the  chief  student  life  of  the 
empire  of  China. 

During  my  visit  at  the  city  of  Seoul,  in 
Korea,  I  found  the  Bible  to  be  the  chief 
book  of  this  nation.  Great  difficulty  is  ex- 
perienced in  furnishing  enough  Bibles  at 
twenty-two  cents  apiece,  to  supply  the  Ko- 
reans. A  few  years  ago  one  church  ordered 
20,000  copies  of  the  New  Testament.  The 
publishing  of  these  books  was  delayed  for  a 
brief  time,  with  the  result  that  every  copy 
was  sold  before  a  single  one  was  printed. 

44 


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-T! 

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"5b 

5J 

—  TZ 


*    rt    C 

•S  ^  5 


BIBLE    STUDY    IN    THE    ORIENT 

In  one  meeting  in  the  city  of  Seoul  I  saw 
655  Koreans  enroll  themselves  in  Bible 
classes.  A  training  class  for  teachers  was 
formed,  with  a  membership  of  thirty-five 
educated  men,  led  by  Mr.  Ye  Sang  Chai,  one 
of  the  leading  scholars  in  that  country. 

In  India  the  Bible  is  rapidly  becoming 
the  most  valued  of  all  sacred  books.  For 
several  years  Pandita  Ramabai,  perhaps  the 
most  learned  woman  in  India,  has  been  en- 
gaging the  services  of  fifty  workers,  with 
her  own  printing  establishment,  for  the 
translation  of  the  Bible,  and  the  making  of 
a  commentary  upon  the  same,  for  the 
eighteen  million  Indians  who  speak  her 
native  language,  the  Maratha.  A  Brahman 
professor,  who  presided  at  a  student  meet- 
ing that  I  addrest  in  the  city  of  Lahore, 
North  India,  speaking  to  an  audience  com- 
posed almost  entirely  of  Hindu,  Moham- 
medan, and  Parsee  students,  exclaimed:  "I 
have  read  through  the  Bible  carefully,  not 
once,  but  many  times.  I  consider  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  one  of  the  greatest  pieces  of 

45 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

moral  and  religious  literature  in  the  world.  I 
venture  to  say  that  the  students  of  India 
know  the  Bible  better  than  they  know  any 
sacred  book  of  Hinduism." 

II — National  Bible  Secretaries 
In  view  of  such  facts  as  these,  it  is  of  the 
most  striking  significance  that  national  Bible 
secretaries  have  been  appointed  to  give  their 
entire  time  and  attention  to  the  supervision 
and  promotion  of  student  Bible  study,  in 
each  of  the  three  sections  of  the  Orient — 
India,  China  and  Korea,  and  Japan.  These 
men,  already  in  close  touch  with  the  great 
student  Bible  movements  of  North  America 
and  Europe,  plan  to  devote  their  lives  to  a 
thoroughgoing  study  of  that  spirit  and 
method  of  Bible  study  best  adapted  to  the 
life  and  development  of  these  oriental  na- 
tions. One  of  these  recently  appointed  spe- 
cial Bible  secretaries  from  the  West  is  spend- 
ing a  year  in  language-study  in  order  to  be 
able  to  present  the  Bible  to  the  people  in 
their  own  tongue. 

46 


BIBLE    STUDY    IN    THE    ORIENT 

III — Bible  Literature  and  Teachers 
The  whole  matter  of  native  Biblical  liter- 
ature, of  which  these  nations  are  in  such 
peculiar  need  at  present,  will  be  among  the 
first  things  considered.  No  mere  translation 
of  Western  Bible-study  books  will  be  ad- 
equate to  meet  the  demands  of  these  Eastern 
peoples.  Literature  must  be  prepared  by 
men  whose  knowledge  of  the  life  of  these 
nations  is  both  inherent  and  trained. 

A  great  progress  will  be  noted,  also,  dur- 
ing the  next  decade  in  the  Orient  in  the 
training  of  expert  Bible  teachers.  During 
a  six  weeks'  Bible  campaign  in  China  and 
Korea,  not  less  than  3,000  students  were  en- 
gaged in  Bible  study.  This  number  might 
have  been  increased  many-fold  had  there 
been  trained  Bible  teachers  to  accept 
leadership  in  the  classes.  The  group  plan 
of  study  is  especially  consistent  with  the 
Oriental  love  of  discussion  and  argument; 
but  this  system  in  the  East,  as  well  as  in 
the  West,  is  dependent  upon  efficient 
agencies  for  the  training  of  teachers.     Let- 

47 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

ters  from  the  Orient  confirm  the  fact  that 
the  leaders  of  the  Bible  work  among  the 
tens  of  thousands  of  students  of  these  na- 
tions are  keenly  alive  to  this  particular  need. 
This  fact  is  evinced  in  the  formation  of 
teacher  training  classes  in  the  student  cen- 
ters, and  in  the  general  preparation  for  Bible- 
training  institutes. 

IV — Bible  Evangelism 
It  is,  however,  as  an  evangelizing  agency 
that  the  Bible  promises  to  be  an  outstanding 
influence  in  the  next  generation  of  students 
in  Eastern  Asia.  An  old  Brahman  in  Cal- 
cutta said  to  me,  "The  Bible  will  stir  the 
conscience  of  India — the  conscience  which 
has  been  slumbering  through  thousands  of 
years — and  India  will  awake  to  Christian- 
ity.' '  One  Christian  worker  among  students 
in  the  city  of  Calcutta  told  me  of  scores  of 
Hindu  students  who  had  come  to  him,  one 
by  one,  to  study  with  him,  for  an  hour,  the 
English  Bible,  and  to  discuss  the  most  vital 
questions  of  their  personal  lives.      Among 

48 


BIBLE    STUDY    IN    THE    ORIENT 

these  men  he  also  pointed  out  a  goodly  num- 
ber of  thoughtful  students,  who,  through  the 
influence  of  such  personal  conversations, 
had  been  led  to  accept  discipleship  with  the 
great  Oriental  Teacher. 

In  the  city  of  Allahabad  an  Oxford  grad- 
uate related  to  me  his  experience  with  a 
Brahman  student  who  read  the  Bible  with 
him  for  over  a  year.  Especial  attention  was 
given  to  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus.  No 
reference  was  made  to  the  personal  accept- 
ance of  Christ  on  the  part  of  this  Brahman 
student.  At  the  end  of  the  year,  however, 
the  teacher  said  one  day  to  his  Hindu 
scholar,  "What  do  you  think  of  Jesus 
Christ  V9  The  answer  came  slowly,  but  with 
peculiar  certainty,  "I  think  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  the  greatest  man  who  ever  lived. 
I  think — yes,  I  know — He  is  my  Savior.' ' 

A  competent  intellectual  and  spiritual  in- 
terpretation of  the  Bible,  as  a  result  of  this 
movement,  will  greatly  further  the  cause  of 
evangelism  among  thinking  men  in  the  East. 
A  very  representative  scholar  and  teacher 

49 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODEKN   LIFE 

of  the  city  of  Tientsin,  Chang  Po  Ling,  re- 
cently accepted  Christianity.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  he  has  been  retained  as  the  head  of  a 
government  school,  subsequent  to  his  conver- 
sion. He  exprest  to  me  his  ambition  to  be- 
come so  proficient  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
principles  of  Christianity,  through  the  study 
of  the  Bible,  that  he  might  be  able  to  trans- 
late into  the  Chinese  language  the  central 
meaning  of  the  Christian  religion. 

One  is  profoundly  imprest,  also,  in  Korea 
by  going  into  churches  that  are  literally 
packed  to  the  doors,  many  containing  over  a 
thousand  men  and  women,  listening  to  the 
exposition  of  the  Bible.  The  vivid  appre- 
hension of  the  deep  principles  of  this  book 
is  now  the  predominant  influence  in  bring- 
ing Korea,  as  a  nation,  nearer  perhaps  to 
an  entire  Christian  evangelization  than  any 
nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  At  least,  a 
traveler  in  this  country  is  deeply  imprest 
with  the  fact  of  the  tremendous  power  of  the 
Bible  when  it  is  with  transparent  honesty  ac- 
cepted in  its  simplest  terms. 

50 


BIBLE    STUDY    IN    THE    ORIENT 

V — Spiritual  Reality 

It  does  not  take  unusual  prophetic  powers 
to  realize  also  the  wonderful  use  of  the  Bible 
in  the  East  as  a  means  for  developing  spiri- 
tual reality  and  power  in  personal  living.  I 
was  deeply  imprest  to  find,  in  the  city  of 
Nagasaki,  fifty  students  in  one  of  the  col- 
leges, arising  at  six  o'clock  each  morning 
and  spending  an  hour,  singly  and  together, 
in  prayer  and  Bible  study.  It  was  not  sur- 
prizing to  find  an  unusual  depth  of  serious 
motive  and  ideal  among  the  men  of  this  in- 
stitution. These  students  had  discovered  not 
simply  the  knoivledge,  but  the  power  of  the 
Bible. 

It  is  not  unusual  to  see  Christian  Indians 
studying  their  Bibles  on  the  trains,  and 
often  in  the  hostels,  where  Bible  classes  are 
being  formed.  One  Christian  worker  ex- 
plained to  me  how  the  entire  atmosphere  of 
one  of  his  student  hostels  had  been  changed 
through  the  influence  of  a  Bible  group,  which 
met  each  week  in  one  of  the  students'  rooms. 
While  comparatively  few  students  have  as 

51 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

yet  been  brought  to  accept  Christianity 
openly,  the  spirit  of  student  relationships 
has  often  been  entirely  transformed.  In  the 
main  hall  of  the  Association  Building  at  Cal- 
cutta, one  may  read  the  significant  words, 
"Bought  by  the  power  of  prayer.' ' 

A  Chinese  student  in  one  of  the  colleges 
of  South  China  was  marked  off  from  other 
leaders  by  the  audacity  of  his  attempts  to 
make  the  Bible  real  among  his  fellow  stu- 
dents. I  asked  him  how  he  came  to  be  so 
much  more  interested  than  the  other  stu- 
dents. He  answered,  "I  have  studied  for  a 
year  the  spirit  and  method  of  Jesus  Christ." 
I  was  told  that  he  kept  with  great  serious- 
ness a  half  hour  each  day  for  the  study  of 
the  life  of  Christ.  The  impression  of  this 
student's  life  was  extraordinary. 

After  all,  the  great  question  of  the  East, 
as  well  as  of  the  West,  is  the  question  of 
character.  Whether  we  think  of  the  confused 
political  questions  of  India,  the  intricate  com- 
mercial relationships  of  China,  the  proper 
industrial    development    of   Korea,    or    the 

52 


2  "55.5 

to  5  * 

H  -5    « 

2  g   - 


BIBLE    STUDY    IN    THE    ORIENT 

striking  military  and  social  evolution  of 
Japan — all  these  are  subjects  which  are  di- 
rectly affected  by  the  influence  of  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Bible  upon  conduct.  As  one  of 
our  own  great  political  leaders  said  not  long 
ago,  "The  questions  that  decide  the  success 
of  men  in  the  present  age  are,  'Will  the  in- 
dividual lie?'  'Will  he  steal T  'Is  he  pure  in 
heart?'  "  We  are  utterly  convinced  that  no 
man  can  habitually  follow  the  custom  of 
daily  Bible  study  in  serious  meditation  and 
communion  with  God,  without  achieving  in 
his  own  life  the  preeminent  qualities  which 
made  the  life  of  Jesus  immortal. 

The  East  needs,  supremely,  at  this  time 
the  embodiment  in  the  lives  of  men  of  the 
chief  message  of  the  Bible — the  love  of  God. 
I  shall  not  soon  forget  the  meeting  with  a 
great  pioneer  missionary  leader  in  India. 
For  thirty-five  years  he  has  poured  out  his 
life  for  that  people;  and  altho  he  has  been 
obliged  often  to  beat  his  way  against  great 
odds,  through  all  the  years  he  has  kept  his 
spirit    of    "sweetness    and    light/ '    being 

53 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

known  far  and  wide  for  his  great  loving- 
kindness.  I  said  to  him,  "What  is  the  great 
influence  for  the  making  of  Christianity  a 
fact  among  the  educated  men  of  India  VJ 
His  answer  came  instantly,  "Men  whose 
hearts  are  filled  with  the  love  of  God."  I 
saw  this  great  man  address  an  audience  of 
Indians.  I  saw  him  at  the  close,  as  he  took 
them  by  the  hand  and  looked  into  their  eyes. 
I  was  convinced  that  he  had  found  the  su- 
preme secret  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
world. 


54 


Chapter  IV 

SUCCESSFUL  OBGANIZATION  AND 
CONDUCT  OF  BIBLE  STUDY 


55 


And  that  the  English  Version,  especially  of  the  New 
Testament,  which  bears  in  particular  the  impress  of  the 
genius  of  Tyndale,  is  a  greater  literary  work  than  the 
original  Greek  will  be  generally  allowed.  Lord  Tennyson, 
we  are  told  in  his  biography,  would  sometimes  insist  on 
this  point.  Some  parts  of  the  New  Testament,  he  would 
say,  are  finer  in  English  than  in  Greek,  especially  in  the 
Apocalypse;  and  he  would  instance  the  passage,  "And 
again  they  said  Alleluia:  and  her  smoke  rose  up  for  ever 
and  ever."  Magnificent  conception,  he  would  say — dark- 
ness and  fire  rolling  together,  for  ever  and  ever!  Or  he 
would  quote  with  boundless  admiration  the  opening  pas- 
sage of  the  tenth  chapter,  "And  I  saw  another  mighty 
angel  come  down  from  heaven,  clothed  with  a  cloud,  and 
a  rainbow  was  upon  his  head,  and  his  face  was  as  it  were 
the  sun,  and  his  feet  as  pillars  of  fire." 

— John  Vaughn:  Cornhill  Magazine 

Match,  if  you  can,  the  Bible's  Table  of  Contents! 

1.  The  story  of  the  Fall  and  of  the  Flood,  grandest  of 
human  traditions  founded  on  a  true  horror  of  sin. 

2.  The  story  of  the  Patriarchs. 

3.  The  story  of  Moses,  with  the  results  of  that  tra- 
dition on  the  moral  law  of  all  the  civilized  world. 

4.  The  story  of  the  Kings;  virtually  that  of  all  king- 
hood  in  David,  and  all  philosophy  in  Solomon,  culminating 
in  the  Psalms  and  Proverbs,  and.  the  still  more  close  and 
practical  wisdom  of  Ecelesiastes  and  the  son  of  Sirach. 

5.  The  story  of  the  Prophets;  virtually  the  deepest 
mystery,  tragedy,  and  permanent  fate  of  national  ex- 
istence. 

6.  The  story  of  Christ. 

7.  The  moral  law  of  St.  John  and  his  closing  Apoca- 
lypse of  its  fulfilment.  — John  Ruskin 

Happy  is  the  man  that  findeth  wisdom, 
And  the  man  that  getteth  understanding. 
For  the  gaining  of  it  is  better  than  the  gaining  of  silver, 
And  the  profit  thereof  than  fine  gold. 
She  is  more  precious  than  rubies: 

And  none  of  the  things  thou  canst  desire  are  to  be  com- 
pared unto  her. 
Length  of  days  is  in  her  right  hand: 
In  her  left  hand  are  riches  and  honor. 
Her  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness, 
And  all  her  paths  are  peace. 

—Proverbs  3:13-17 

56 


Chapter  IV 

SUCCESSFUL    ORGANIZATION    AND 
CONDUCT  OF  BIBLE  STUDY 

I — Spirit  and  Method 
An  English  friend  once  said  to  me, 
"When  you  Americans  wish  to  accomplish 
anything  you  appoint  a  committee;  if  this 
doesn't  work  you  appoint  another  commit- 
tee; and  if  this  fails  you  start  an  organiza- 
tion.'' 

This  American  genius  for  organization, 
which  has  attended  some  of  our  chief  accom- 
plishments, is  now  being  focused  upon  Bible 
study  among  laymen.  The  time  is  opportune 
and  the  need  insistent.  The  Bible  has  been 
severed  altogether  too  long  from  practical 
experience.  It  has  been  regarded  as  a  book 
of  the  skies — extraordinary — subtle — exotic 
— other-worldly — and  quite  exempt  from 
such  treatment  as  draws  meaning  and  power 
from  other  literature.     I  have  noticed  sur- 

57 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

prized  wonder  on  faces  of  men  when  Bible 
classes  which  have  just  been  "  started' '  have 
just  "stopt."  But  why  should  we  expect 
success  in  Bible  study  without  exertion? 
What  reason  in  wondering  that  Bible  classes 
do  not  succeed  when  they  are  characterized 
by  loose  methods? 

The  following  significant  answers  have 
recently  come  to  me  from  laymen  of  whom 
I  asked  the  secret  of  their  success  with 
Bible  study  among  men:  "hard  work" — 
"teacher  who  studies  systematically  his 
Bible" — "never  say  die" — "a  Bible-study 
committee  that  meets  and  does  business" — 
"expect  to  sacrifice  to  make  Bible  study  suc- 
cessful" (this  answer  from  a  man  who  has 
been  known  to  sit  up  all  night  with  his  com- 
mittee to  work  out  the  details  and  plans  of 
his  Bible  campaign) — "a  task  hard  enough 
to  test  your  faith  in  God" — "real  Bible 
study  not  all  talk" — "making  a  Bible  class 
mean  something  worth  while  in  the  com- 
munity"— "regular  Bible-study  habits  on 
the   part    of    at   least    a    few    members" — 

58 


ORGANIZATION  AND   CONDUCT 

11  using  Bible  study  as  a  means  of  winning 
men  for  the  Christian  life." 

There  are  two  elements  In  successful 
Bible-study  propaganda:   spirit  and  method. 

The  spirit  of  the  work  is  primary  and 
fundamental.  Dr.  George  A.  Gordon  in  his 
"Ultimate  Conceptions  of  Faith "  declares: 
"The  question  of  the  success  or  defeat  of 
life  belongs  wholly  in  the  sphere  of  the 
spirit.' '  There  must  first  be  the  imagination, 
the  sentiment,  the  belief,  the  vision-bringing 
incentive.  No  satisfactory  action  lasts  ex- 
ultantly without  a  clear  and  continuous  con- 
ception of  the  need,  the  objective,  the 
"why." 

No  less  essential,  however,  is  the  method; 
the  way  to  do  it — the  what?  the  how!  the 
when?  the  where?  and  the  who?  The  spiri- 
tual enginery  may  be  ever  so  warm  and 
powerful,  but  the  tracks  also  determine  the 
progress  and  the  arrival  of  the  train.  The 
Bible-study  method  is  the  bridge  between  the 
dream  and  its  fulfilment :  it  is  always  present 
with  successful  Bible  enterprises. 

59 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

We  note  two  elements  which  have  to  do 
with  the  spirit  of  Bible-study  undertakings 
and  which  form  the  rudiments  of  their 
success : 

II — Large  Purpose 

Bible  study  often  fails  because  it  involves 
no  adequate  ambition,  no  imperial  endeavor. 
Mr.  Edison,  when  asked  his  secret  of  suc- 
cess, replied:  "I  try  to  think  of  the  biggest 
thing  that  can  be  done,  and  then  do  it." 
This  principle  applies  to  Bible  enterprises. 
A  business  man  said  to  me  some  years  ago, 
"I  will  join  in  your  Bible-study  work  if  you 
really  meditate  a  big  thing." 

"The  greatest  thing  a  human  being  ever 
does  in  this  world,"  said  Buskin,  "is  to  see 
something  and  then  go  and  tell  what  he  has 
seen  in  a  plain  way."  In  a  successful  Bible- 
study  program  at  least  one  man  must  see 
something  and  he  must  see  it  "in  the  big," 
as  the  college  men  say.  His  Bible-study 
plan  must  have  scale  and  outreach  sufficient 
to  require  superhuman  aid  for  full  accom- 

60 


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ORGANIZATION  AND   CONDUCT 

plishment.     This   spirit  of  large  faith  and 
audacity  made  unique  the  work  of  Jesus. 

In  a  New  England  church,  where  only  a 
few  men  had  been  interested  in  Bible  study, 
a  dozen  individuals,  with  a  vision,  met  one 
evening  in  the  church  vestry  and  arranged 
a  Bible  campaign  calling  for  an  enrolment 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  in  Bible 
classes  within  a  year.  They  had  first 
prayed  (a  small  motive  can  not  live  in  a  big 
prayer,  says  Dr.  Jowett).  The  money  to  be 
appropriated,  the  place,  the  time,  printing, 
course  of  Bible  study,  and  men  to  be  se- 
cured, were  all  considered  relative  to  the 
spirit  and  demand  of  this  invigorating  ideal. 
Jn  six  months  the  membership  of  the  organ- 
ization passed  the  three-hundred  mark.  At 
the  end  of  the  first  year  more  than  four 
hundred  men  were  enlisted  in  Bible  study. 
In  four  years  one  hundred  of  these  men  had 
joined  the  church.  To-day  many  of  these 
members  of  the  original  Bible  class  are 
standing  solidly  in  the  foundations  of  that 
Christian  society. 

61 


THE   BIBLE  AND  MODEEN  LIFE 

Students  at  the  University  of  Illinois  in 
the  year  1903  approved  of  an  advance  policy 
for  Bible  study  which  then  appeared  to  be 
enormous,  indeed  almost  fanatical.  They 
planned  to  enroll  300  men  in  voluntary  Bible 
classes.  They  actually  did  enlist  290  men. 
This  number  steadily  increased  from  year  to 
year  until  in  1909  this  institution  reported 
725  students  as  continuing  in  voluntary  and 
systematic  Bible  classes  in  this  institution. 
One  can  scarcely  measure  either  the  direct 
or  indirect  influence  of  such  an  endeavor  in 
a  State  university  which  usually  affords  no 
direct  religious  teaching  through  its  curric- 
ulum studies  other  than  that  inaugurated  by 
the  students. 

While  attending  a  conference  of  the 
World's  Student  Christian  Federation  in 
Holland,  a  few  years  ago,  a  teacher  from 
Asia  Minor  told  me  that  the  inspiring  ac- 
count of  the  Bible  campaign  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Illinois  had  been  the  means  of  crea- 
ting a  new  and  practical  enthusiasm  for  the 
Bible  in  his  country.    Phillips  Brooks  said: 

62 


OKGANIZATION  AND   CONDUCT 

"Pray  for  powers  to  fit  your  tasks,  not  for 
tasks  to  fit  your  powers."  The  carrying  of 
the  Bible  to  men  is  a  divine  work.  Men  who 
undertake  it  must  believe  in  Almighty  God. 

Has  Christian  faith  entered  into  the  Bible 
program  of  our  churches  or  communities? 
Do  we  believe  sufficiently  in  the  Bible  to  at- 
tempt great  things  with  it  and  for  it?  Jesus 
said:  "He  that  soweth  sparingly  shall  reap 
also  sparingly;  and  he  that  soweth  bounti- 
fully shall  reap  also  bountifully. ' ' 

Many  a  church,  or  section,  or  minister, 
could  win,  and  become  a  light  to  the  nations 
in  Bible-study  influence,  if  some  of  the  au- 
dacious faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  teacher 
and  example  in  leadership,  could  be  breathed 
through  the  enterprise. 

Ill — Spirit  of  Victory 

A  Bible-study  movement  to  be  successful 
must  have  one  or  two  leaders  who  believe 
in  the  cause  irresistibly  and  who  are  filled 
with  the  spirit  of  victory.  "That  cause  is 
strong,' '   says   Lowell,    "which   has,   not   a 

63 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

multitude,  but  one  strong  man  behind  it." 
After  all,  the  great  method  in  Bible  study- 
is  a  man — a  man  who  dares — a  man  who 
sees  the  goal  more  clearly  than  he  sees  the 
obstacles  in  his  path — a  man,  as  Carlyle 
would  say,  "who  knows  how  to  die." 

A  few  years  ago  a  young  man  led  a  Bible 
work  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  which  enlisted 
over  five  hundred  men  in  Bible  study  at  one 
of  the  buildings  of  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association.  He  encountered  indiffer- 
ence, hostility,  and  sometimes  disdain.  Few 
believed  he  would  succeed,  but  the  spirit  of 
victory  in  the  man  won  that  Bible  campaign. 
Gradually  opposition  melted  before  the 
burning  zeal  of  this  leader.  The  association 
building,  and  the  homes  of  many  members 
were  filled,  one  night  each  week,  with  scores 
of  young  men  studying  the  Bible.  The  gen- 
eral secretary  was  asked  the  reason  for  this 
great  awakening.  He  answered,  "We  had  a 
man  for  a  leader  who  was  fool  enough  to 
believe  he  couldn't  fail."  This  man  saw  the 
goal  more  clearly  than  the  obstacles. 

64 


v 


'C  ^J 


ORGANIZATION  AND   CONDUCT 

Oh,  prudence  is  a  right  good  thing, 
And  those  are  useful  friends 
Who  never  make  beginnings 
Until  they  see  the  ends. 
But  now  and  then  give  me  a  man 
And  I  will  make  him  king, 
Just  to  take  the  consequences, 
Just  to  do  the  thing. 

Some  one  has  defined  a  committee  as  an 
organization  composed  of  three  members, 
one  of  whom  is  dead,  a  second  traveling  in 
Europe,  and  the  third  doing  the  work. 
Whatever  a  Bible-study  organization  or  a 
Bible  class  lacks,  it  must  not  be  lacking  in 
at  least  one  man  with  the  habit  of  success, 
with  "two-o 'clock-in- the-morning  courage" 
— a  man  who  is  thrilled,  as  was  the  great 
Leader  of  men,  with  the  idea:  "I  have  a 
baptism  to  be  baptized  with;  and  how  am  I 
straitened  till  it  be  accomplished !" 

If  a  Bible  work  possesses  a  large  aim  and 
determined  leadership  there  are  points 
which  have  to  do  with  method  which  can  not 
be  overlooked. 

65 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

Some  practical  policy  is  indispensable:  a 
policy  which  will  delegate  responsibility  to 
men  and  assure  definite  and  concrete  result. 
A  Bible-study  committee  is  often  appointed 
to  look  after  the  plans  for  organization  and 
development. 

A  successful  Bible  enterprise  in  New 
York,  which  has  for  three  years  engaged  the 
attendance  and  active  interest  of  many  men, 
was  started  and  conducted  as  follows: 
One  man  who  felt  this  need  of  Bible  study 
called  together  two  or  three  of  his  friends 
to  talk  over  the  subject.  Suggestions  were 
made,  and  enthusiasm,  with  allegiance,  grew. 
Arrangements  were  perfected  for  a  dinner 
at  a  certain  hotel,  to  be  attended  by  about 
twenty-five  of  the  representative  men  of  the 
church  and  congregation.  Care  was  taken 
to  invite  to  this  dinner  men  of  such  type 
and  influence  as  would  add  both  efficiency 
and  dignity  to  the  organization.  At  the  close 
of  the  dinner  the  Bible  plans  were  presented, 
cards  were  passed,  and  the  names  and  ad- 
dresses were  taken  of  men  who  wished  to 

66 


ORGANIZATION  AND   CONDUCT 

join  the  Bible  class  as  charter  members.  A 
committee  was  appointed  to  select  a  teacher, 
place,  time  of  meeting,  course  of  study, 
program  for  the  first  session,  etc.  The  very- 
next  Sunday  thirty  men  met  for  an  hour 
(9:30-10:30  a.m.)  and  engaged  in  Bible 
study  and  listened  to  an  exposition  concern- 
ing the  life  of  Christ.  The  course  of  study 
chosen  for  the  class  was  Prof.  J.  W.  Jenks's 
book  entitled,  "Social  Significance  of  the 
Teachings  of  Jesus  " 

On  the  following  Tuesday  evening  the 
members  met  socially,  having  supper  to- 
gether at  the  parish  house,  after  which  plans 
for  the  development  of  the  organization 
were  considered.  The  charter  members  in- 
vited other  men  to  be  present  with  them  at 
this  meeting,  when  an  organization  was  de- 
cided upon  and  officers  elected.  Plans  for 
Bible  lectures,  social  service,  and  a  weekly 
meeting  were  heartily  accepted. 

For  three  years  this  organization, 
"through  summer's  heat  and  winter's  cold," 
has  maintained  this  weekly  meeting  on  Tues- 

67 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

day  night,  preceded  by  a  supper  which  the 
members  attend  at  six  o'clock,  coming 
thereto  directly  from  business.  Often  the 
Bible  subject  presented  on  Sunday  is  discust 
by  the  members  in  little  groups  in  the  chap- 
ter-house on  Tuesday  evening,  thereby  as- 
suring individual  interest  on  the  part  of  the 
members  and  greatly  enhancing  the  attract- 
iveness and  value  of  the  Sunday  interpre- 
tation. 

This  class  has  engaged  in  philanthropic 
and  missionary  interests  and  is  constantly 
training  among  its  officers  and  upon  its 
committees  a  goodly  number  of  young  men, 
many  of  whom  engage  in  the  services  of  the 
church. 

It  is  usually  easier,  however,  to  enlist  men 
in  Bible  study  than  it  is  to  sustain  their  inter- 
est and  regular  attendance.  But  it  is  the  men 
who  "continue"  in  the  Word  who  really  dis- 
cover the  Bible.  Bible  enrolment  must  be  fol- 
lowed by  independent  study,  by  regular  par- 
ticipation in  the  discussion  of  Biblical  truth, 
and  by  active  effort  to  enlist  others,  if  we 

68 


ORGANIZATION  AND  CONDUCT 

are  to  really  win  laymen  for  the  Christian 
Scriptures. 

Among  many  modern  methods  for  main- 
taining Bible  study  the  following  have 
proved  quite  universally  successful: 

IV — Series  of  Bible  Lectures 
The  subject  of  Bible  study  is  kept  attract- 
ively before  laymen  by  monthly  or  semi- 
monthly lectures  by  Bible  scholars.  The 
topics  of  such  lectures  are  as  important  as 
a  wise  selection  of  speakers.  I  give  a  few 
titles  which  have  incited  much  interest  in 
varied  communities. 

"Why  Should  a  Business  Man  Study  the 
Bible !"  "The  Place  of  the  Bible  in  Modern 
Thinking."  "The  Bible  in  Public  Life." 
"The  Nature  and  Origin  of  the  Bible."  "Is 
the  Bible  Scientific!"  "Marks  of  a  Bible 
Teacher."  "How  Can  I  Get  Interested  in 
the  Bible?"  "The  Philosophy  of  the  Book 
of  Job."  "The  Bible  and  Literature." 
"Lincoln's  Use  of  the  Bible."  "The  Social 
Message  of  Jesus." 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

V — Course  of  Study 

The  course  of  study  has  much  to  do  with 
the  holding  of  interest.  A  suggestive  outline 
should  be  chosen  and  every  man  in  the  class 
should  own  a  copy.  Much  care  should  be 
taken  to  fit  this  outline  to  the  needs  of  the 
men.  I  recently  discovered  a  Bible  class  of 
high-school  boys  struggling  hard  to  maintain 
their  interest  in  a  treatise  entitled:  " Bible 
Hieroglyphics  and  the  Ancient  Monuments." 

I  would  draw  attention  to  two  courses  of 
Bible  study  upon  the  life  and  teachings  of 
Christ  which  have  had  successful  use  among 
thousands  of  laymen :  ' '  The  Life  and  Works 
of  Jesus  According  to  St.  Mark,"  by  W.  D. 
Murray  (for  beginners)  and  "The  Teach- 
ings of  Jesus  and  His  Apostles,"  by  Dean 
Edward  I.  Bosworth,  for  men  who  wish  to 
give  more  real  study  to  the  subject. 

VI — Individual  Work 
The  teachers  who  are  capable  of  retaining 
throughout  the  year  the  steady  attendance 
of  their  students  usually  confess  to  a  large 

70 


ORGANIZATION  AND  CONDUCT 

amount  of  personal  service  outside  the  class. 
A  leader  of  a  large  Bible  work  which  has 
continued  with  increasing  loyalty  from  year 
to  year  makes  it  a  point  to  entertain  a 
dozen  members  at  his  home  one  evening  each 
week.  At  West  Point,  where  250  cadets  are 
studying  the  Bible  every  week  in  voluntary 
classes  in  connection  with  the  Student  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  we  find  that 
the  teacher  of  the  groups  usually  reminds 
every  man  in  his  class,  just  before  the  hour 
of  meeting,  by  a  personal  call.  A  popular 
teacher  of  two  Bible  classes  in  a  large  city 
told  me  he  had  spent  at  least  an  hour  alone 
with  each  man  in  his  two  classes  for  the  sake 
of  personal  acquaintance  and  friendship. 

A  successful  Bible  class  is  one  that  pos- 
sesses not  simply  a  large  aim  but  also  a 
true  aim.  What  is  our  Bible  study  for? 
Are  the  results  serviceable?  There  was  both 
a  clear  object  and  also  a  definite  result  in 
that  first  Bible  class  of  which  Jesus  was  the 
teacher. 

In  one  of  our  large  agricultural  and  me- 

71 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

chanieal  colleges  eight  hundred  men  in  sixty- 
seven  groups  have  this  year  been  making  a 
frank,  scientific  study  of  the  facts  of  Christ's 
life,  as  presented  in  Mark  and  then  in  John. 
One  hundred  men  made  a  quiet,  definite  de- 
cision for  the  Christian  life  in  a  four  days' 
evangelistic  campaign,  a  result  which  the 
leader  felt  was  a  direct  outgrowth  of  this 
Bible  study.  He,  the  Teacher,  the  Lover  of 
men,  is  the  objective,  the  incentive  of  suc- 
cessful Bible  study.  The  Bible-class  teacher 
may  well  keep  before  himself  the  words  of 
Eichard  Watson  Gilder: 

Behold  him  now  where  he  comes ! 

Not  the  Christ  of  our  subtle  creeds, 
But  the  lord  of  our  hearts,  of  our  homes, 

Of  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  needs; 
The  brother  of  want  and  blame, 

The  lover  of  women  and  men, 
With  a  love  that  puts  to  shame 

All  passions  of  mortal  ken. 


72 


Chapter  V 
BIBLE  STUDY  IN  SMALL  CLASSES 


73 


I  do  not  know  a  book  which  gives  in  such  compact  and 
poetic  form  every  phase  of  human  ideas  as  the  Bible.  All 
the  questions  which  arise  out  of  the  manifestations  of 
nature  have  their  answer  here;  all  the  original  relations 
of  man  to  man,  the  family,  the  state,  and  religion  are 
known  for  the  first  time  through  this  book.  The  power 
of  truth  and  wisdom  in  its  simple,  childish  form,  take  hold 
of  the  child's  mind  with  their  powerful  charm.  The 
Psalms  of  David  influence  not  only  the  thought  of  the 
child,  but  he  learns  to  know  for  the  first  time  the  whole 
fascination  of  poetry  in  its  inimitable  purity  and  strength. 
Who  of  us  has  not  wept  over  the  story  of  Joseph  and  his 
brethren,  or  listened  to  the  story  of  the  shorn  Samson 
with  much  anxiety  and  beating  of  the  heart;  and  who  has 
not  received  all  those  other  hundreds  of  noble  impressions, 
which  we  have  drawn  in  as  with  our  mother's  milk?  I 
repeat  it,  without  the  Bible  the  education  of  the  child  in 
the  present  state  of  society  is  impossible. 

— Tolstoy 

"In  this  Book,"  says  the  aged  grandmother,  in  Tenny- 
son's poem — "In  this  Book,  little  Annie,  the  message  is 
one  of  peace." 

All  that  I  have  taught  of  Art,  everything  that  I  have 
written,  whatever  greatness  there  has  been  in  any  thought 
of  mine,  whatever  I  have  done  in  my  life,  has  simply  been 
due  to  the  fact  that,  when  I  was  a  child,  my  mother  daily 
read  with  me  a  part  of  the  Bible,  and  daily  made  me  learn 
a  part  of  it  by  heart. 

— John  Buskin 


All  the  doors  that  lead  inward  to  the  sacred  place  of 
the  Most  High  are  doors  outward — out  of  self,  out  of 
smallness,  out  of  wrong. 

— George  MacDonald 


The  joyful  life  is  the  life  of  the  larger  mission,  the  dis- 
interested life,  the  life  of  the  overflow  from  self,  the 
"more  abundant  life"  which  comes  from  following  Christ. 

— Henry  Drummond 


74 


Chapter  V 
BIBLE  STUDY  IN  SMALL  CLASSES 

I — The  Teacher  of  a  Small  Class 

The  tendencies  of  Bible-study  movements 
in  different  countries  point  to  the  ever- 
increasing  use  of  the  small  discussional  group 
as  a  means  of  interesting  all  kinds  of  per- 
sons in  the  Bible.  Altho  the  size  of  these 
groups  may  vary  somewhat,  through  the  abil- 
ity of  the  teacher  and  local  circumstances,  it 
is  generally  found  that  eight  or  ten  persons 
form  the  most  feasible  number  for  a  success- 
ful Bible  group.  A  clear  advantage  of  the 
small  Bible  group  over  the  large  organized 
class  using  the  lecture  method  lies  in  the  fact 
that  each  man  in  a  small  group  is  given  op- 
portunity for  expressing  his  own  views,  and 
thereby  advancing  immediately  his  interest 
and  enthusiasm  in  personal  Bible  study. 

Whether  the  Bible  class  is  a  large  organ- 
ized meeting  of  men  in  a  church,  or  a  small 

75 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

group  of  individuals,  or  a  meeting  of  two  or 
three  friends,  the  first  essential  is  a  teacher 
in  whom  the  members  of  the  class  believe 
utterly.  It  may  not  be  too  often  reiterated 
that  character  is  caught,  not  taught.  Some 
one  has  said  that  influence  is  a  matter  of 
suction.  "I  do  not  remember  a  thing  the 
teacher  said,  but  I  do  remember  him,"  was  a 
student's  comment  concerning  a  great  Bible 
leader.  An  old  lady  in  Doctor  McCheyne's 
church,  in  Scotland,  said  she  had  rather  see 
Doctor  McCheyne  walk  from  the  door  of  the 
church  into  the  pulpit  than  to  hear  any  other 
man  preach  a  sermon.  The  Bible  class  is  not 
a  mere  academic  lecture-room.  It  is  not  a 
place  for  dispensing  moral  philosophy  and 
"greatest  happiness"  principles.  It  is  a 
place  for  the  revelation  of  the  purposes  of 
God. 

Such  revelation  is  most  impressive  through 
human  incorporation  of  the  principles  in- 
volved. Bible  study,  if  actual,  affects  motives, 
and  motives  are  aroused  only  by  men  who 
believe  things  irresistibly.  The  man  who  faces 

76 


BIBLE  STUDY  IN  SMALL  CLASSES 

weekly  a  group  of  Bible  students  has  one  of 
the  matchless  opportunities  of  these  times. 
This  opportunity  is  something  far  higher  and 
greater  than  passing  on  cheerful  quotations 
and  badly  worn  platitudes.  The  teacher's 
chance  is  to  set  the  current  of  the  student's 
soul  toward  God  and  the  service  of  the  hand 
toward  his  brother  man. 

For  such  tasks  personal  character  is  indis- 
pensably important.  The  teacher  will  be  the 
only  Bible  which  many  of  his  pupils  will 
truly  read.  He  can  teach  just  so  far  as  he 
truly  is.  If  he  is  merely  perfunctory  or  a 
professional  religionist,  alas  for  the  class! 
The  true  teacher  must  declare  war  upon  all 
inveracity  and  egotistical  proclamations  of 
goodness.  He  must  be  careful  how  he  talks 
in  terms  beyond  his  own  experience.  His  per- 
sonal religion  is  his  greatest  asset.  His 
absolute  fairness  and  justice  to  all  points  of 
view  are  frequently  as  important  as  his  prep- 
aration. His  sincerity,  his  reality,  his  genu- 
ineness, must  be  so  marked  that  men  are  re- 
minded of  Him  who  said :    "  I  am  the  Truth. ' ' 

77 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

77 — The  Atmosphere  of  the  Class 
A  spirit  of  calm  should  be  felt  in  a  success- 
ful Bible  class.  Bible  classes,  like  most  boats, 
sail  best  on  an  even  keel.  The  power  of  the 
leader  and  the  members  is  revealed  in  quiet- 
ness and  self-control.  Acrid  debate  and  con- 
troversy are  seldom  conducive  to  the  dis- 
covery and  assimilation  of  truth.  Hurry  or 
the  keeping  of  the  eye  always  on  the  watch  is 
prejudicial  to  well-poised  thoughtfulness  and 
sane  discussion.  The  ' '  inner  light ' '  and  mind 
of  the  teacher  is  truly  revealed  in  his  manner. 
His  attitude  is  contagious.  He  often  becomes 
impressive  in  inverse  ratio  to  his  bluster  and 
noisy  arguments.  Some  teachers  bring  the 
spirit  of  peace  and  deliberation  as  they  enter 
the  room,  so  that  the  study  can  begin  at  once. 
Others  storm  in  like  a  whirlwind,  and  true 
thoughtfulness  and  devotion  must  wait  until 
things  get  quieted  down.  In  quietness  exists 
much  of  the  teacher's  strength. 


78 


BIBLE  STUDY  IN  SMALL  CLASSES 

III — Attention  to  Details 
A  class  secretary  is  usually  necessary.  The 
teacher  should  have  something  greater  in  his 
mind  than  roll-calls  of  attendance,  the  open- 
ing and  shutting  of  windows,  and  the  passing 
of  Bibles. 

The  real  teacher  must  feel  his  truth  so  big 
within  him  that  it  necessarily  fills  his  entire 
consciousness,  else  when  it  comes  out  it  will 
not  come  hard  and  straight  and  powerful. 
But  some  one  must  get  down  to  earth  and  look 
after  the  machinery,  or  the  small  Bible  class 
may  be  wrecked  by  inattention  to  details.  A 
faithful  secretary  can  well  magnify  his  office 
by  arranging  exhibits  of  Bible  literature,  by 
following  up  delinquent  members  through 
correspondence  and  personal  calls,  and  by 
keeping  the  leader  informed  of  attendance, 
criticisms,  and  suggestions  of  need  gathered 
from  the  men  in  the  class.  The  secretary  can 
do  many  things  not  on  the  program,  provided 
he  is  sensitive  to  conditions,  tactful  in  emer- 
gencies, and  keen  to  discern  the  signs  of  the 
times. 

70 


THE  BIBLE  AND   MODERN   LIFE 

IV — Prayer 

The  spirit  of  prayer  is  always  an  attendant 
of  an  effective  Bible  class.  In  a  class  where 
non-Christian  men  are  present,  the  ease  of 
diffident  members  would  be  obtained  by  the 
teacher's  statement  that  no  man  will  be  called 
upon  for  public  prayer  who  has  not  been  con- 
sulted beforehand.  The  genuine  prayer,  how- 
ever, both  audible  and  in  secret,  is  indispen- 
sable. The  entire  hour  must  be  saturated  with 
the  spirit  of  prayer  if  high  results  are  to  be 
attained.  Men  should  be  turned  from  their 
sins  to  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  a  personal 
Savior,  in  our  Bible  classes.  Sham  lives  of 
alleged  Christians  should  be  cut  through  by 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit.  The  peace  of  God 
should  be  realized  in  sore  and  troubled  hearts. 
Such  unusual  events  are  fruits  of  the  prayer- 
ful spirit.  The  disciples '  hearts  burned  with- 
in them  because  Jesus  Christ  was  near.  The 
effective  Bible  class  is  an  effective  prayer- 
meeting,  even  tho  no  prayers  are  heard. 

I  was  much  imprest  by  the  power  of  a 
Bible  class  among  the  cadets  at  West  Point. 

80 


BIBLE  STUDY  IN  SMALL  CLASSES 

Upon  inquiry  I  found  that  the  leader  of  the 
class  met  for  prayer  each  week  for  a  few 
minutes  before  the  class-hour  with  several  of 
the  most  devout  men  in  the  group. 

V — Naturalness 
Naturalness  should  characterize  Bible 
study.  Every  man  should  be  himself  in  tone, 
in  manner,  in  language,  and  in  appearance. 
The  influence  of  the  Bible  class  should  not  be 
undercut  by  the  use  of  traditional  phrases 
from  which  all  real  meaning  has  long  since 
departed.  Nothing  is  more  fatal  to  the  vital 
current  in  the  Bible  class  than  cant  or  the 
semblance  of  professionalism;  nothing  is 
more  winning  than  a  perfectly  natural  and 
genuinely  simple  presentation  of  truth  that 
is  really  believed. 

VI — Discussion 

Free  discussion  illumines  the  Word  of  God. 

The  Bible  class  is  not  a  pulpit  nor  a  lecture 

platform.    It  is  rather  a  seminar,  depending 

upon  the  original  contribution  of  each  mem- 

81 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

ber.  Some  one  has  described  a  successful 
Bible  class  as  being  similar  to  a  relay-race 
rather  than  a  mile-run.  The  teacher  is  the 
leader,  not  the  preacher.  Josh  Billings  de- 
fines a  bore  as  the  man  who  talks  so  much 
about  himself  that  you  can  not  talk  about 
yourself.  The  real  leader  should  be  more  like 
a  committee  chairman  whose  business  it  is  to 
guide  the  discussion  as  the  presiding  officer. 
He  should  strive  to  keep  himself  out  of  the 
light.  The  shadow  of  a  man  in  the  brook  is 
fatal  to  good  fishing. 

To  be  sure,  it  is  difficult  to  secure  such  free- 
dom of  discussion  in  large  classes  which  form 
audiences.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  break 
such  classes  into  smaller  groups  of  ten  or 
twelve  men  each,  where  real  Bible  study  and 
thoughtful  exchange  of  ideas  may  be  stimu- 
lated on  the  part  of  every  man. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  lead  a  large  Bible 
class  in  a  New  York  church  some  years  ago, 
in  which  we  were  gratified  with  the  plan  of 
combining  the  lecture  plan  with  the  discus - 
sional  method.     Men  to  the  number  of  one 


BIBLE  STUDY  IN  SMALL  CLASSES 

hundred  met  together  on  Sunday  morning  at 
9:30  o'clock  in  a  room  by  themselves.  A  de- 
votional program  was  carried  out  which  in- 
volved the  participation  of  five  or  six  mem- 
bers of  the  class,  after  which  the  teacher  took 
twenty  minutes,  sometimes  less,  to  outline 
the  central  points  of  the  subject  for  the 
week's  study.  The  subject  of  the  study  was 
"The  Relation  of  Jesus'  Teachings  to  the 
Life  of  To-day."  One  of  the  requirements 
for  membership  in  the  class  was  that  each 
member  should  secure  a  personal  copy  of  the 
Bible  course  and  study  for  himself.  On  Tues- 
day evening  a  light  supper  was  served  in  the 
parish  house  of  the  church,  after  which  the 
members  of  the  class  broke  up  into  small  dis- 
cussional  groups  of  six  or  eight  men  each, 
taking  one-half  hour  to  talk  over  the  subject 
which  had  been  presented  on  Sunday,  and 
which  the  men  had  personally  studied 
through  the  help  of  their  outline.  This  meth- 
od was  effective  to  the  end  of  interesting  new 
men  through  the  public  sessions,  and  in  main- 
taining the  interest  of  these  men  by  actual 

83 


THE  BIBLE  AND   MODERN  LIFE 

Bible  study,  conversation  and  friendship  in 
the  discussional  groups. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  Bible 
class  is  for  the  sake  of  Bible  study ;  that  Bible 
study  is  not  for  the  sake  of  the  Bible  class. 
The  class-hour  should  arouse  men  to  a  new 
interest  in  the  Bible,  and  to  the  formation  of 
a  habit  of  personal  Bible  study.  It  will  rarely 
do  this  if  the  men  attend  simply  to  listen  to 
a  sermonette  on  a  particular  passage. 

A  question-box  and  the  assignment  of  spe- 
cial topics  may  be  helpful  in  arousing  indi- 
vidual interest.  If  books  or  chapters  of  books 
are  cited  for  reference,  the  teacher  should 
always  go  over  them  with  the  student  in  ad- 
vance to  kindle  his  interest. 

VII— The  Teacher's  Other  Work  Than 
Teaching 

The  apostle  Paul  would  say,  "Not  looking 
each  of  you  to  his  own  things,  but  each  of  you 
also  to  the  things  of  others."  The  supreme 
and  thrilling  thought  of  the  Bible  leader  lies 
in  his  realization  that  he  has  something  tre- 

84 


BIBLE  STUDY  IN  SMALL  CLASSES 

mendously  worth  while  to  do  for  other  men. 
It  is  more  than  possessing  knowledge  of  the 
Bible.  It  is  far  more  than  having  a  perfect 
pedagogical  system.  There  must  be  the  abil- 
ity on  the  part  of  the  teacher  to  get  out  of 
himself  into  the  lives  of  the  members  of  his 
class.  He  must  create  in  himself  conditions 
which  belong  to  them.  It  is  not  enough  for 
him  to  get  the  truth  in  his  own  mind  and 
heart,  and  to  get  it  irresistibly ;  he  must  then 
travel  back  along  the  path  up  which  he  has 
come,  to  return  with  the  new  disciple.  It 
is  no  easy  task  swiftly  to  put  one's  self  in 
the  other  man's  place  and  to  bear  his  burden. 
Professor  Palmer  calls  it  "the  aptitude  for 
vicariousness.,,  It  was  the  ideal  Teacher's 
unique  trait  so  to  place  himself  in  the  dis- 
ciple's circumstances  as  to  realize  how  his 
teaching  must  appear  to  the  men  hearing  it 
for  the  first  time.  No  Bible  class  will  be  truly 
effective  unless  this  spirit  of  mingled  sym- 
pathy and  sacrifice  unite  in  the  life  of  the 
teacher. 
A  man  of  my  acquaintance,  who  success- 

85 


THE  BIBLE   AND   MODERN  LIFE 

fully  taught  eight  Bible  groups  each  week  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  told  me  that  the  secret 
of  his  success  existed  not  so  much  in  the  class- 
hour  as  it  did  in  personal  acquaintance  with 
the  men  outside  the  class.  He  confest  that 
the  first  thing  he  did  to  make  his  class  suc- 
cessful was  to  arrange  for  an  hour's  con- 
versation with  each  member  of  his  class.  He 
thus  was  able  to  secure  personal  knowledge 
of,  and  friendly  attachment  with,  his  students. 
His  teaching  and  his  discussion  in  the  class- 
hour  was  upon  the  basis  of  his  personal 
knowledge  of  the  needs,  ambitions,  tempta- 
tions, and  temperaments  of  his  class  mem- 
bers. 

VIII — Serviceablewess 
Furthermore,  an  effective  Bible  class  is 
one  that  joins  Bible  truth  and  action.  Bible 
study  is  not  an  end  in  itself.  It  is  not  for  the 
sake  of  information  simply.  Neither  is  its 
objective  fulfilled  in  giving  spiritual  thrills 
and  moral  satisfaction  or  selfish  happiness. 
A  Bible  class  is  for  the  sake  of  life  and  serv- 

86 


BIBLE  STUDY  IN  SMALL  CLASSES 

ice.  The  Bible  is  a  practical  book  because  it 
treats  of  practise  and  conduct.  Just  as  truly 
as  neither  books  nor  sermons  nor  men  abide 
unless  they  are  serviceable,  so  it  is  true  that 
no  Bible  class  possesses  lasting  value  unless 
it  can  relate  men  to  tasks,  to  needs,  to  action. 
The  real  discovery  of  truth  should  never 
leave  a  man  inert  and  passive  and  disinter- 
ested. He  must  act  and  react  on  what  he 
receives,  else  the  objective  of  the  class  is 
lost.  The  Bible  class  is  not  simply  a  resort 
for  curious,  intellectual  critics.  It  is  rather 
a  creative  center  of  vital  life.  It  should  be  a 
dynamic  force  impelling  men  toward  new  and 
active  ideals.  The  Leader  of  the  group  of 
twelve  men  in  the  first  century  toiled  more 
than  He  taught. 

IX — Evangelism  as  an  Objective 
Christian  evangelism  should  have  its  place 
in  the  Bible  group.  A  large  organized  Bible 
class  in  a  church  of  my  acquaintance  has  been 
the  means  of  bringing  more  than  one  hundred 
men  into  personal  acceptance  of  Christianity 

87 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

and  church-membership.  Over  one  thousand 
students  are  led  to  accept  Christ  each  year 
in  the  colleges  directly  through  the  influence 
of  the  small  Bible  classes. 

We  have  far  too  little  faith  that  the  super- 
natural power  of  God  will  be  manifested  in 
the  Bible  group.  The  drift  of  the  present 
age,  however,  is  bringing  us  more  and  more 
to  the  Bible  as  the  means  of  evangelism.  The 
great  mass-meeting,  with  its  spectacular  ac- 
companiments, is  less  and  less  capable  of 
reaching  thoughtful  men  for  the  church.  The 
small  Bible  class,  with  its  intelligent,  devo- 
tional, informal,  and  natural  air,  should  be  a 
place  where  God  may  find  hearts  responsive 
to  His  call. 

Much  depends  upon  the  objective  in  the 
leader's  mind.  I  know  of  a  Bible  class  in 
which  the  teacher  was  the  means  of  leading 
nine  of  the  ten  non-Christian  members  of  the 
group  to  accept  Christ  as  a  personal  Savior. 
He  had  gathered  these  men  into  a  little  class 
with  the  distinct  purpose  and  prayer  that 
they  might  be  led  to  know  his  Lord.    A  Bible 


«J  .5" 


—  u  d 
~        Z  <r. 

a      •:•  *i  u 

—  «  s_ 

£      j[  £  C 

[J         -  5  '" 

—  r-  1)  U 

w      5  h  '- 

0  O  u 

—  u  CO  P 


-  £  - 


-     (/I    .rt 


BIBLE  STUDY  IN  SMALL  CLASSES 

class  where  the  temper  and  disposition  is 
Christlike,  where  the  treatment  of  sin  is 
straight  and  sincere,  and  where  the  very 
Omnipotent  Savior  is  lifted  up  before  the 
eyes  of  men,  is  a  means  of  evangelism  second 
to  none.  Jesus  said :  ' '  These  are  they  which 
bear  witness  of  me." 


Chapter  VI 
LAEGE  OEGANIZED  BIBLE  CLASSES 


91 


When  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  embarked  in  the  Mayflower 
in  1620,  and  when,  eight  years  afterward,  the  great  Puri- 
tan immigration  from  old  England  to  New  England  set 
in,  they  carried  with  them,  our  fathers,  and  the  brothers 
of  your  fathers,  carried  with  them,  as  their  best  posses- 
sion— in  fact,  the  only  one  which  was  to  have  a  lasting 
value — King  James's  Bible,  upon  which  their  infant  state 
was  built.  It  was  their  only  book — their  only  readable 
book.  .  .  .  That  book  was  readable  by  every  man, 
woman,  and  child.  It  was  the  ark  of  their  covenant,  and, 
really,  they  did  find  within  those  sacred  covers  their 
shelter  from  the  stormy  blast  and  their  eternal  home. 
Their  faith  was  founded  upon  it,  and  having  no  other 
book,  you  can  realize  how  there  they  stood  to  find,  not 
their  religion  only,  but  their  literature,  their  biographies, 
their  voyages  and  travels,  their  poetry,  such  as  no  poets 
have  ever  since  produced,  and  that  magnificent  march  of 
history,  from  the  beginning,  and  they  searched  and  found 
in  it  the  golden  rules  of  life. 

— Hon.  Joseph  H.  Choate  in  an  address  delivered  at 
the  Centenary  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  May,  1904. 

It  is  related  of  George  Peabody  that  when  he  was  quite 
an  old  man,  sitting  in  his  office  one  day  in  London,  a  boy 
brought  him  a  New  Testament  for  some  purpose,  I  know 
not  what;  but  the  old  man,  looking  up,  said:  "My  boy, 
you  carry  that  book  easily  in  your  youth,  but  when  you 
are  as  old  as  I  am  it  must  carry  you. " 

I  believe  that  the  Bible  should  not  only  be  taught  in 
every  public  school,  but  that  it  should  have  the  first  place, 
and  every  other  study  should  be  made  subordinate. 

— William   Lyon   Phelps 
Professor  of  English  in  Yale  University 

In  one  of  our  American  cities  an  actress,  the  star  of 
the  most  fashionable  theater  of  the  city,  bought  a  New 
Testament  and  Psalter.  She  said  to  the  salesman:  "I 
always  carry  a  Bible  with  me.  People  think  that  we  do 
not  read  the  Bible,  but  we  read  it  a  great  deal  more  than 
we  get  credit  for,  and  some  of  us  try  to  live  up  to  its 
principles  in  our  lives.' ' 

We  plead  for  a  closer  and  wider  and  deeper  study  of 
the  Bible.  Among  the  very  greatest  men  a  disproportion- 
ately large  number  have  been  diligent  and  close  students 
of  the  Bible.  — Theodore   Roosevelt 

92 


Chapter  VI 
LAEGE  ORGANIZED  BIBLE   CLASSES 

/ — Suggestions  of  First  Importance 

Before  describing  the  general  plan  for  the 
organization  and  development  of  the  large 
organized  Bible  class  for  men  in  the  church, 
I  wish  to  emphasize  several  vital  points  in 
the  way  of  explanation  and  caution.  First 
of  all,  the  objective  of  the  large  class  varies 
from  that  of  the  small  group  in  that  the 
large  class  is  usually  employed  as  an  attract- 
ive center  for  the  rallying  and  holding  of 
young  men  to  the  church  through  public  pro- 
grams, social  functions,  and  special  meetings 
for  evangelism.  The  organized  class  has 
proved  peculiarly  valuable  in  furnishing  for 
tens  of  thousands  of  the  young  men  of  the 
community,  deprived  of  social  advantages,  a 
friendly  meeting-place.  Its  use  of  the  lec- 
ture plan  in  Bible  presentation,  however,  has 

93 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODEEN  LIFE 

converted  the  large  organized  class  into 
something  like  a  men's  meeting  with  Bible 
emphasis.  Yet  such  an  organization  has, 
through  its  class  loyalty  and  enthusiasm  of 
numbers  in  one  body,  the  power  to  hold  many 
young  men  in  the  church,  as  well  as  to  draw 
non-Christian  men  in  a  way  that  small  groups 
have  not  yet  seemed  capable  of  doing.  It  is  to 
be  noted  that  there  is  a  growing  feeling  that 
much  of  this  same  general  advantage  might 
inhere  in  a  thoroughly  organized  Bible-study 
department  for  men  representing  a  combina- 
tion of  public  sessions  and  small  classes. 

With  the  use  of  the  large  class  two  warn- 
ings are  necessary.  It  must  be  realized  on 
the  start  that  this  large  Bible-class  meeting 
does  not  take  the  place  of  the  small  Bible 
groups  which  have  as  their  objective  the  en- 
listment of  men  in  the  personal,  systematic 
study  of  the  Bible.  Comparatively  little 
Bible  study  is  found  on  the  part  of  men  in 
these  large  classes,  and,  too  often,  little  ex- 
pectation of  such  study  exists  in  the  mind  and 
plans  of  the  teacher.    There  are  two  methods 

94 


LARGE   BIBLE   CLASSES 

for  associating  the  large  class  with  real 
Bible  study.  One  method  divides  the  class 
into  small  groups  with  individual  leaders. 
In  some  churches  these  small  sections  of  the 
large  class  meet  for  supper  on  a  week  night — 
the  men  coming  directly  from  business — 
taking  about  forty  minutes  for  class  and  dis- 
cussion work  immediately  following  the  sup- 
per. Every  man  is  expected  to  purchase  a 
Bible-study  text-book  and  to  do  some  study 
for  himself  in  preparation  for  these  seminar 
discussions.  This  group  study  is  really  the 
Bible-study  work  of  the  large  class,  and  the 
public  sessions  with  other  means  serve  as 
places  of  ingathering  and  stimulation  for  the 
groups. 

Another  plan  which  promises  much  is  in 
line  with  the  idea  of  the  modern  adult  Bible- 
study  department  in  the  Sunday-school. 
The  large  class  meets  with  the  general  Bible 
school  of  the  church  for  a  ten-minute  open- 
ing program — if  such  a  meeting  is  not  feas- 
ible the  session  is  held  in  the  class  itself — 
the  men  in  the  large  class  then  break  into 

95 


THE  BIBLE  AND   MODEEN  LIFE 

small  groups  of  not  more  than  ten  men  each, 
for  a  half  or  three  quarters  of  an  hour  of 
general  study  and  conversation.  In  this  plan 
the  main  work  of  a  teacher,  in  a  class  of  a 
hundred  members  for  example,  consists  in 
training  ten  of  the  most  competent  men  to 
lead  as  many  small  classes.  Thereby  the 
power,  enthusiasm,  and  dynamic  inhering 
in  a  compact  class  or  a  men's  department  in 
the  Sunday-school  is  retained,  and  also  some 
serious  Bible  study  is  accomplished. 

It  is  also  necessary  to  note  the  danger  of 
the  possibility  of  the  large  class  becoming 
a  kind  of  rival  organization  to  the  church 
and  Sunday-school.  The  members  of  the 
class  should  be  made  to  feel  the  intimate  re- 
sponsibility for  the  furtherance  of  Bible 
study  in  the  Bible  school,  of  furnishing  teach- 
ers and  officers  for  this  department,  and  of 
joining  in  the  school  and  the  church  meet- 
ings as  frequently  as  convenient.  If  the 
Sunday-school  superintendent  and  pastor  of 
the  church  can  be  related  to  the  class  in  some 
active  or  official  capacity  this  unity  will  be 

96 


=      X 


^  •-    >> 

i  -  'a 

3  2    a) 

D  o    = 

X  M  — 

/.  -     - 


LARGE   BIBLE   CLASSES 

more  easily  obtained.  Indeed,  the  Bible  de- 
partment for  men  in  any  church  is  of  suf- 
ficient importance  to  command  a  large  share 
of  the  serious  thought  and  planning  of  the 
entire  board  of  church  officers.  The  modern 
Sunday-school  is  in  real  need  at  present  of  the 
ability  and  leadership  which  the  thoughtful 
and  representative  men  of  the  large  Bible 
class  can  furnish,  and  no  organization  for 
Bible  work  among  men  has  any  right  to  es- 
tablish or  conduct  its  activity  out  of  imme- 
diate and  sympathetic  relation  to  the  general 
Bible-study  propaganda  of  the  church. 

In  the  description  of  the  men's  class  which 
follows,  therefore,  I  would  have  the  leader 
keep  these  ideas  in  mind,  realizing  that  the 
large  organized  class  is  a  success  only  as  it 
can  fulfil  its  function  in  introducing  young 
men  into  church-membership  and  leading 
them  toward  the  more  vital  means  of  really 
studying  the  Bible  in  small  classes,  which 
method  of  Bible  study  has  been  proved  re- 
peatedly to  be  the  plan  of  actually  opening 
the  riches  of  God's  Word  to  individual  men. 

97 


THE  BIBLE  AND   MODERN  LIFE 

II — A  Bible  Center 

First,  then,  we  must  realize  that  any  ac- 
tivity which  permanently  saves  and  develops 
Christian  character  in  men  must  be  at  its 
heart  religious,  having  for  its  foundation 
nothing  less  than  the  Word  of  God.  The  em- 
phasis upon  this  idea  in  organized  Bible-class 
work  is  vitally  important.  Men  should  not 
be  deceived  into  thinking  that  the  class  or  the 
department  is  a  social,  athletic,  or  civic  club ; 
it  should  not  be  presented  to  them  as  merely 
a  musical,  or  a  literary,  or  a  debating  society. 
It  is  a  Bible  class,  for  Bible  study,  and  in 
every  feasible  way  opportunity  should  be 
taken  to  emphasize  this,  since  the  thorough 
study  of  the  Bible  is  the  secret  of  its  life  and 
the  true  sign  of  its  practicality  and  per- 
manence. The  countless  vain  endeavors  to 
organize  and  permanently  to  interest  young 
men  in  objectless  clubs  or  mere  lecture-classes 
are  sufficient  proofs  of  the  necessity  of  em- 
phasizing this  initial  idea. 

Is  there  danger  in  forcing  this  thought  to 
the  front?  Men  sometimes  are  frightened  at 

98 


LAKGE   BIBLE   CLASSES 

the  mention  of  the  Bible  or  at  the  word, 
church;  the  advice  is  given  you  to  angle  for 
them  by  socials  or  athletics  or  some  other 
artifice;  in  other  words,  it  is  needful  to  be 
quite  strategic  in  dealing  with  men.  The  trend 
of  this  teaching  seems  to  me  to  be  positively 
wrong.  Honesty,  sincerity,  and  reality  are 
the  attractions  with  which  to  reach  the  men 
of  to-day,  for  men  are  as  a  rule  honest, 
in  motive  at  least.  Preachers  and  church- 
members  owe  a  duty  to  young  manhood  in 
the  correction  of  the  notion,  prevalent  in  the 
minds  of  some  people,  that  men  are  natu- 
rally and  eternally  degenerate  and  do  not 
care  for  religion.  There  are  those  who 
would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  young  men 
were  possest  with  the  devil  from  the  ground 
up,  that  they  were  creatures  "born  out  of 
due  time,"  so  to  speak,  and  that  the  most  we 
possibly  can  do  is  to  tolerate  them — but 
meanwhile  to  expect  very  little  of  serious- 
ness from  them. 

Those  who  have  had  much  experience  with 
men  in  general  know  that  this  lack  of  confi- 

99 


THE  BIBLE  AND   MODERN  LIFE 

dence  in  their  integrity  is  not  only  unfor- 
tunate and  a  revelation  of  ignorance  of  the 
real  facts;  but  it  is,  moreover,  absolutely 
reprehensible.  Men  are  to-day  interested  in 
the  Bible,  and  they  are  eager  to  study  it 
when  a  method  is  found  attractive  to  them. 
From  an  experience  of  fifteen  years  of 
almost  constant  association  with  large  num- 
bers of  young  men  of  various  creeds,  races, 
and  nations,  I  wish  to  place  myself  on 
record  by  saying  that  I  firmly  believe  that 
no  class  of  persons  is  to  be  found  more  uni- 
versally responsive  to  direct  religious  teach- 
ing— courageously,  vigorously  and  frankly 
presented — than  are  young  men.  Youth 
is  naturally  religious;  "God  wrestles  with 
us  in  the  dawning  of  the  day."  It  is 
here  that  the  heart  controls.  The  head  may 
take  precedence  in  manhood,  but  affections 
are  predominant  in  youth.  Young  men,  if 
their  hearts'  truth  could  be  known,  are  "not 
far  from  the  kingdom."  They  think  con- 
cerning religious  things.  Their  decisions  are 
usually   frank   and   open,   and   much   more 

100 


LARGE   BIBLE   CLASSES 

easily  made  than  later  in  life  when  habits 
and  dispositions  become  fixt  and  when  a 
wrench  is  necessary  for  the  acceptance  of 
new  positions.  We  should  never  be  skep- 
tical concerning  a  man's  capacity  or  inclina- 
tion for  religion  or  for  Bible  study,  for  such 
skepticism  unfits  us  for  our  best  work  among 
them.  The  success  of  Jesus  consisted  in  no 
small  degree  in  His  belief  in  humanity. 

Ill — Social  'Adjunct 
When  this  central  idea  is  firmly  estab- 
lished one  may  have  as  many  means  to  its 
accomplishment  as  possible,  providing,  of 
course,  that  these  means  act  as  passages 
simply,  leading  always  to  the  main  room  of 
the  house.  One  of  the  most  important  helps 
in  the  building  of  organized  Bible  classes 
for  men  is  the  true  social.  By  this  I  include 
all  of  those  influences  in  the  environment  of 
fellowship,  such  as  exist  in  connection  with 
athletics,  entertainments,  and  musical,  literary 
and  social  gatherings  within  and  without  the 
church;  in  short,  everything  which  makes 
101 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

possible  the  touch  of  life  upon  life  and  the 
creation  and  development  of  friendships. 
Fletcher,  of  Saltoun,  used  to  say,  "Let  me 
give  to  a  nation  its  songs  and  I  can  mold 
the  nation."  If  we  could  likewise  give  to  a 
young  man  his  companions  any  one  of  us 
could,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  de- 
termine his  future.  The  most  worn  phrase 
in  connection  with  a  young  man's  downfall 
is,  "he  fell  into  bad  company."  The  young 
man  is  naturally  social  and  fraternal  in  his 
habits  and  tastes;  he  wants  friendships  and 
must  have  them.  If  the  church  does  not 
afford  opportunity  for  the  formation  of 
friendships,  he  will  seek  them  elsewhere.  A 
student  came  into  my  office  in  New  York 
and  said:  "I  have  not  come  to  you  for  a 
position,  nor  for  financial  assistance,  but  I 
have  been  in  this  city  for  eight  months  and 
during  that  time  have  not  found  any  man 
whom  I  could  call  my  friend;  I  must  have 
some  one  to  whom  I  can  tell  my  confidences. 
Will  you  be  my  friend?"  Hundreds  of 
young  men  in  our  large  cities  to-day  are  in 

102 


LARGE   BIBLE   CLASSES 

like  case.  Let  them  realize  that  in  our 
churches  are  warm,  sympathetic,  friendly 
hearts,  and  they  will  come  to  us.  Win  a 
man's  friendship  and  you  have  taken  a  long 
stride  toward  the  winning  of  that  man  for 
Christ  and  the  work  of  the  church.  Robert 
Louis  Stevenson  was  a  fine  example  of  his 
creed,  that  friendship  and  work  are  the  two 
things  worth  while. 

IV — The  Business  Side 
The  other  chief  support  of  the  central 
Bible  idea  is  business  method.  It  is  as  unfor- 
tunate as  it  is  true  that  many  men  enter  the 
church  from  active  business  life  and  lop  off 
almost  every  habit  of  strict  practical  method, 
of  regularity,  studious  invention,  optimism, 
and,  most  of  all,  dogged  perseverance  in  un- 
ceasing work.  We  seem  to  expect  the  church 
militant  in  its  earthly  career  to  be  as  invisi- 
ble as  is  the  church  triumphant  in  heaven. 
Such  policy  will  never  reach  men.  A  men's 
Bible  class  can  not  exist  for  any  length  of 
time  without  organized,  systematic,  personal 

103 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

work.  It  must  be  characterized  by  hard, 
earnest,  businesslike  activity,  the  same  kind 
of  activity  which  wins  success  for  men  out- 
side the  church.  Every  member  of  such 
classes  must  be  harnessed  to  definite  service. 
The  young  Christian  layman  must  be  taught 
that  he  is  not  just  a  heroic  knight  to  bow  be- 
fore his  King  to  receive  his  knighthood,  but 
he  must  in  that  same  act  grasp  his  sword  and 
stride  fearlessly  into  the  lists.  Men  need  to 
realize  the  valiant,  enterprising  side  of  church 
life.  In  these  times  men  should  learn  that 
existence  in  the  church,  as  out  of  it,  is  an 
aggressive  thing,  as  Tennyson  says: 

. .  .life  is  not  as  idle  ore, 

But  iron  dug  from  central  gloom, 
And  heated  hot  with  burning  fears, 
And  dipt  in  baths  of  hissing  tears, 

And  batter  M  with  the  shocks  of  doom 

To  shape  and  use. 

There  should  be  conditions  of  retaining 
membership,  as  well  as  inducements  for  ob- 
taining membership.  The  password  of  every 
man   into    the    ranks    of   Bible-class    work 

104 


LARGE   BIBLE    CLASSES 

should  be  a  pledge  for  some  prompt  and 
definite  service.  Herein  is  the  benefit  of  the 
organized  class  and  the  large  committee  sys- 
tem by  means  of  which  one  is  enabled  to 
utilize  with  businesslike  arrangement  the 
varied  talents  of  different  sorts  of  men.  But 
let  this  organism  be  charged  always  with  the 
heroism  of  modern  successful  endeavor. 


V — Organization  Meeting 

How  shall  we  proceed  to  form  the  large 
class  for  men? 

Let  the  matter  be  presented  to  a  few  of 
the  strongest  men  in  the  church;  begin  with 
prayer ;  start  with  the  idea  of  having  a  large 
class  with  a  large  enrolment  in  small  groups 
for  real  discussion  and  study;  it  is  the 
easiest  way;  a  "big"  thing  is  always 
popular  with  men  of  to-day;  advertise  the 
organization  meeting  as  widely  as  pos- 
sible; send  personal  invitations  to  a  large 
number  of  men  within  and  without  the 
church  (the  pastor  may  get  such  names  by 

105 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

cards  in  the  pews  and  by  presenting  the 
matter  to  the  members  of  his  congregation) ; 
outline  frankly  and  broadly  to  the  men  as- 
sembled the  idea  of  the  class;  emphasize  its 
democracy  and  its  need  of  workers;  build 
up  a  strong  esprit  de  corps  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible. Make  this  adult  class  or  adult  depart- 
ment a  real  part  of  the  Sunday-school.  Choose 
a  leader  who  can  lead.  Appoint  a  number  of 
additional  leaders  for  the  small  study  groups. 
Decide  upon  a  name  for  the  class,  a  course  of 
Bible  study,  and  elect  officers  if  feasible  at 
an  early  meeting;  appoint  a  committee  to 
present  constitution  and  further  plans,  and 
ask  for  a  report  of  the  committee  at  a  def- 
inite date.  Elect  a  press  correspondent  to 
detail  in  daily  papers  and  religious  press 
such  proceedings  of  the  meetings  as  will  in- 
terest both  members  and  indifferent  men 
outside  the  church.  Adjourn  the  first  busi- 
ness meeting  with  the  idea  of  holding  the 
first  Bible  session  the  following  Sunday  at 
the  regular  hour  of  the  Bible  school,  or  at 
the  most  expedient  time, 
los 


LARGE   BIBLE   CLASSES 

VI— Officers 

The  president  should  be  a  man  of  strong 
representative  value  in  the  community,  not 
a  figurehead,  but  a  leader.  He  should  be 
capable  of  presiding  at  business  meetings, 
social  occasions,  and  also  at  the  Sunday  ses- 
sions. His  name  should  appear,  together 
with  the  name  of  the  secretary,  upon  the 
class  letter-heads,  on  cards  of  invitation,  and 
on  class  literature.  He  should  keep  his  hand 
firmly  and  intelligently  on  every  department 
of  the  organization. 

The  vice-president  may  at  times  be  the 
chairman  of  the  executive  committee,  thus 
relieving  the  president  from  such  duty.  Both 
president  and  vice-president  should  be 
Christian  men  who  have  the  spiritual  inter- 
ests of  the  class  at  heart.  Certain  of  the 
other  officers  or  committeemen  may  be  non- 
Christian  men. 

The  recording  secretary,  in  addition  to  his 
regular  duties  of  keeping  the  attendance  at 
class  sessions,  social  occasions,  entertain- 
ments, etc.,  should  see  that  every  man  re- 

107 


THE   BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

ceives  an  attendance  blank  as  he  enters  the 
classroom,  whereon  he  may  write  his  name 
and  address,  and,  if  not  a  member,  his  desire, 
should  he  choose  to  become  one.  The  secre- 
tary may  also  present  the  notices  at  the  Sun- 
day session,  and  should  always  have  at  hand 
a  book  containing  the  constitution,  for  new 
members  to  sign. 

The  corresponding  secretary  should  keep 
the  proceedings  of  the  class  before  the  mem- 
bership and  the  public  through  press  notices 
and  such  other  forms  of  announcement  as 
are  consistent  with  the  locality.  It  should  be 
his  duty  to  send  notification  cards  to  all  the 
members  for  business  meetings,  and  also  for 
the  social  gatherings  and  for  special  ses- 
sions. He  should  have  charge  of  the  mailing 
list,  including  not  only  the  list  of  members, 
but  the  list  of  names  of  men  proposed  for 
membership.  These  men  are  invited  by  per- 
sonal invitation  and  by  letter  or  post-card 
to  the  class  meetings.  In  some  classes  the 
same  man  performs  the  work  for  the  record- 
ing and  corresponding  secretaries. 

108 


LAEGE   BIBLE   CLASSES 

It  is  frequently  found  to  be  desirable  in 
the  large  organized  Bible  class  to  have  an 
individual  treasury,  the  Bible-class  members 
giving  a  certain  percentage  of  their  collec- 
tions to  the  Sunday-school.  (A  class  in  a 
church  of  my  acquaintance  gives  20  per  cent, 
of  the  Sunday  offerings  to  the  Sunday- 
school.y  Men  will  at  times  give  more  liber- 
ally to  their  own  class  work;  in  every  in- 
stance a  class  should  be  easily  capable  of 
meeting  its  necessary  expenditures.  Enter- 
tainments and  lectures  at  which  an  admis- 
sion fee  is  charged  are  among  the  means  of 
replenishing  the  treasury.  Men  of  wealth 
in  the  church  and  community  will  often  con- 
tribute generously  to  such  an  organization 
if  they  see  that  the  men  mean  business. 

The  chorister  or  organist  is  an  important 
officer,  for  he  has  charge  of  the  musical  pro- 
grams, which  should  be  of  the  very  best 
quality  on  Sundays  and  at  the  fraternal 
gatherings.  He  may  organize  a  male  cho- 
rus, a  male  quartet,  orchestra,  etc.,  as  place 
and  conditions  permit.    It  is  usually  found 

109 


THE   BIBLE  AND   MODERN  LIFE 

expedient  to  secure  a  fund  for  the  Sunday 
musical  programs.  Money  is  not  to  be  de- 
spised in  the  promotion  of  Bible  study.  The 
chorister  should  be  a  man  of  magnetic  power 
and  personal  leadership.  He  should  be  able 
to  obtain  the  cooperation  of  every  man  of 
the  class  in  the  program  of  song  and  in 
popular  musical  performances. 

The  librarian  should  superintend  the  dis- 
tributing of  Bibles,  hymn-books  and  any 
special  literature  for  the  day.  A  large  class 
will  soon  be  able  to  purchase  its  own  Bibles, 
hymn-books,  singing  sheets,  etc.,  thus  adding 
often  to  the  feeling  of  independence  and  in- 
terest in  the  class  membership.  A  small 
library  of  reference  books  upon  the  Bible 
should  also  be  added  as  soon  as  possible. 
The  sum  of  twenty-five  dollars  would  secure 
a  good  beginning  library.  Suggestions  for 
such  a  library  may  be  gained  by  consulting 
the  Bible  reference  literature  at  the  end  of 
this  book.  A  small  library  of  carefully  chosen 
and  attractive  books  is  preferable  to  a  large 
miscellaneous  collection. 
no 


LARGE   BIBLE    CLASSES 

VII — Committees 
The  membership  committee  in  the  large 
class  should  be  composed  of  at  least  ten  men 
of  ability.  Conditions  of  membership,  in 
one  class  I  visit,  are  threefold:  The  young 
man's  name  is  presented  by  a  member  of 
the  class;  it  is  voted  upon  by  the  executive 
committee ;  if  the  vote  is  favorable,  the  con- 
stitution is  signed  by  the  applicant.  There 
should  of  course  be  no  distinction  of  class 
or  race  or  social  standing.  Care  should  be 
taken,  however,  that  men  are  not  drawn 
away  from  other  churches.  The  large  Bible 
class  is  not  to  deplete  neighboring  churches 
but  to  develop  men  in  the  church,  and 
to  reach  men  who  never  attend  church. 
The  work  of  the  membership  committee 
should  be  twofold.  First,  in  the  church; 
members  ought  to  be  so  distributed  at  all 
public  services  as  to  meet  any  stranger  who 
may  be  present,  welcome  him,  obtain  his 
name  and  address,  if  feasible,  and  interest 
him  in  the  class.  Second,  without  the 
church;  a  house-to-house  canvass  might  be 
111 


THE  BIBLE  AND   MODERN  LIFE 

made  at  times  for  men  not  connected  with 
other  Bible  work.  By  presenting  cards  of 
announcement  stating  the  object  and  organ- 
ization of  the  class,  together  with  a  per- 
sonal invitation  to  be  present  at  some 
definite  meeting,  the  matter  is  brought  con- 
cretely to  the  individual,  and  the  success  of 
such  undertakings  always  depends  upon  suc- 
cess with  individuals.  All  new  names,  with 
addresses  of  men  secured  by  the  member- 
ship committee,  may  be  sent  at  once  to  the 
corresponding  secretary  who  can  invite  these 
men  by  cordial  letter  to  class  meetings. 

The  visiting  or  attendance  committee  calls 
upon  members  of  the  class  not  attending 
regularly.  Cards  of  reminder  should  be  sent 
by  this  committee  to  all  members  who  have 
missed  one  or  more  sessions.  Personal 
sympathy,  exhibited  by  calls  upon  sick  mem- 
bers for  example,  is  a  vital  factor  in  this 
activity. 

The  social  committee  should  be  composed 
of  at  least  ten  men  who  have  charge  of  the 
maintenance  and  development  of  good  fel- 

112 


LARGE   BIBLE   CLASSES 

lowship  at  socials  and  on  Sundays.  This 
committee  has  charge  of  introductions, 
receptions,  programs,  luncheons,  monthly 
socials  (informal  affairs  with  a  varied 
program  and  an  easy,  democratic  spirit). 
This  committee  may  also  look  after  the  an- 
nual banquet  at  which  all  of  the  members 
of  the  class  are  supposed  to  be  present.  The 
social  committee  has  been  useful  in  arran- 
ging outings  in  the  summer,  and  in  planning 
special  entertainments  by  the  class. 

The  employment  committee,  composed  of 
eight  or  ten  of  the  leading  business  men  of 
the  class,  is  a  feature  of  some  strong  classes 
for  men.  The  object  is  to  secure  positions 
for  members  who  have  lost  their  situations 
or  who  have  recently  reached  the  city  or 
town.  This  work  if  attempted  at  all  should 
be  carried  on  in  a  businesslike  fashion,  ref- 
erences carefully  investigated,  and  the  con- 
fidence of  business  men  acquired. 

The  athletic  committee  is  composed  of  a 
few  men  who  have  general  charge  of  all  in- 
door and  outdoor  athletics.     This  work  can 

113 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

be  of  immense  value  in  its  attractive  power 
to  young  men.  Baseball  and  football  teams, 
excursions  into  the  country,  sailing  and  fish- 
ing parties,  competitive  tennis  or  golf  or 
basketball— all  these  are  successfully  at- 
tempted by  such  classes.  Many  young  men 
discover  the  Bible  via  the  athletic  field.  This 
committee  is  also  engaged  in  interesting  mem- 
bers in  boys'  athletic  clubs  and  social  service 
in  the  town. 

VIII — The  Sunday  Session 
The  Sunday  class  is  often  held  from 
twelve  to  one  o'clock  or  at  9:30  a.  m.  By 
all  means  secure  a  separate  room  for  the 
class.  Men  will  thus  be  reached  who  would 
never  attend  the  class  if  held  in  a  room  with 
other  classes.  When  the  men  meet  on  Sun- 
day, the  social  committee  and  ushers  should 
be  industriously  engaged,  before  and  after 
the  morning  service,  inviting  strangers  to 
the  session.  The  first  ten  minutes  of  the 
hour  is  often  occupied  in  singing  led  by  the 
chorister,  the  class  president  presiding.   The 

114 


2         M 


LARGE   BIBLE    CLASSES 

devotional  exercises  may  be  in  charge  of  a 
different  member  of  the  class  each  Sunday, 
thus  bringing  out  the  abilities  of  different 
men.  Care  should  be  given  to  the  musical 
program.  A  question  drawer,  taking  five  or 
ten  minutes  of  the  hour,  may  be  conducted 
by  a  competent  member  of  the  body.  A 
three-minute  review  of  the  previous  Sun- 
day's lesson  may  be  presented  by  still 
another  member.  Strong  Christian  laymen 
seem  to  have  proved  their  peculiar  fitness  as 
teachers  of  these  classes.  However,  there  are 
many  advantages  in  having  the  pastor  of  the 
church  as  the  teacher.  He  can  thus  become 
acquainted  with  the  men  and  acquire  a  per- 
sonal hold  upon  them  which  he  would  be  un- 
able to  do  in  any  other  capacity  than  as 
teacher.  He  should  take  not  longer  than 
twenty  minutes  to  present  the  lesson  of  the 
day.  An  informal  talk  bringing  home  the 
vital  truth  in  the  most  frank  and  practical 
way  to  the  hearts  of  the  young  men  is  found 
especially  helpful. 
If  the  course  of  study  bears  upon  social 

115 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

or  political  problems,  the  skilful  leader  can 
arrange  with  profit  for  a  certain  amount  of 
discussion.  This  should  always  be  the  case 
when  the  class  is  a  small  one,  or  not  exceed- 
ing fifteen  or  twenty  men  in  attendance. 
Questions  and  answers  in  large  classes,  how- 
ever, are  frequently  found  to  breed  unprofit- 
able discussions,  and  also  to  frighten  away 
men  who  hesitate  to  expose  their  ignorance  in 
a  Bible  class.  The  men  are  invited  to  remain 
for  a  half  hour  after  the  class  for  introduc- 
tions and  social  fellowship.  A  large  class 
should  invariably  be  broken  into  small  groups 
meeting  at  other  times  for  detailed  conversa- 
tion and  discussion. 

The  class  hour  is  the  center  of  the  spiri- 
tual work,  and  the  presentation  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  Jesus  Christ,  which  has  been  in  all  ages 
the  " power  of  God  unto  salvation,' '  is  the 
great  magnet  around  which  the  class  will  be 
drawn.  Throughout  the  organization  the 
power  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  needs  to  be 
predominant  in  the  lives  of  consecrated  men, 
if  the  best  and  highest  results  are  to  be  ac- 

116 


LAKGE   BIBLE    CLASSES 

complished.  Leaders  of  this  kind  of  work 
may  well  ask  what  are  the  results  of  this 
organization  in  personal  habits  of  Bible 
study,  in  church-membership,  and  in  the 
work  of  Christian  missions  at  home  and 
abroad. 


117 


Chapter  VII 

BIBLE-STUDY  COURSES  AND 
LITERATURE 


119 


We  no  longer  need  to  read  the  Bible  with  the  blinds  of 
our  intelligence  half  drawn  down.  We  no  longer  open  the 
pages  of  the  Prophets  with  the  feeling  that  we  are  to 
force  ourselves,  as  once  seemed  necessary,  into  a  mental 
attitude,  which  was  a  strange  mixture  of  anxious  devout- 
ness  and  a  pained  sense  of  a  lack  of  completeness  .  .  . 
while  our  intellectual  honesty  compelled  us  to  feel  that 
we  did  not  really  understand  when  we  had  read. 

— Bishop    op   Eipon 

I  read  the  Bible  often  and  with  pleasure.  A  Bible  lies 
beside  me  at  night  in  which  most  of  the  precious  thoughts 
are  underlined.  I  can  not  understand  how  many  men  exist 
who  do  not  busy  themselves  with  God's  word.  In  all  my 
thoughts  and  actions  I  ask  myself  the  question,  "What 
does  the  Bible  say  on  the  point  1"  The  Bible  is  to  me 
the  source  from  which  I  draw  strength  and  light.  In  hours 
of  trembling  and  fear  I  lay  hold  on  this  treasure  of  com- 
fort. — Kaiser  Wilhelm 

Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away:  but  my  words  shall 
not  pass  away.  — Mark   13 :  31 

If  the  common  schools  have  found  their  way  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific;  if  slavery  has  been  abolished;  if 
the  whole  land  has  been  changed  from  a  wilderness  into 
a  garden  of  plenty,  from  ocean  to  ocean;  if  education  has 
been  fostered  according  to  the  best  light  of  each  gener- 
ation since  then;  if  industry,  frugality,  and  sobriety  are 
the  watchwords  of  the  nation,  as  I  believe  them  to  be, 
I  say  it  is  largely  due  to  those  first  emigrants,  who,  land- 
ing with  the  English  Bible  in  their  hands  and  in  their 
hearts,  .  .  .  established  themselves  on  the  shores 
of  America.  — Hon.  Joseph  H.  Choate 

Mr.  Lincoln,  as  I  saw  him  every  morning,  in  the  carpet 
slippers  he  wore  in  the  house  and  the  black  clothes  no 
tailor  could  make  really  fit  his  gaunt,  bony  frame,  was  a 
homely  enough  figure.  The  routine  of  his  life  was  simple, 
too;  it  would  have  seemed  a  treadmill  to  most  of  us.  He 
was  an  early  riser;  when  I  came  on  duty,  at  eight  in  the 
morning,  he  was  often  already  drest  and  reading  in  the 
library.  There  was  a  big  table  near  the  center  of  the 
room;  there  I  have  seen  him  reading  many  times.  And 
the  book?  It  was  the  Bible  which  I  saw  him  reading 
while  most  of  the  household  slept. 

— William  H.  Crook,  in  Harper's  Magazine 

120 


Chaptek  VII 

BIBLE-STUDY  COURSES  AND 
LITERATURE 

I — How  to  Study  the  Bible 
The  Bible  has  received  such  laudatory 
commendations  from  both  humble  and  great 
that  no  intelligent  person  can  doubt  that  it 
is  a  good  and  great  Book,  and  indispensable 
for  education,  practical  success,  and  religion. 
It  is  one  thing,  however,  to  compliment  the 
Bible;  it  is  quite  another  thing  to  really 
study  it.  I  find  many  people  who  believe 
thoroughly  in  this  book  who  do  not  know 
how  to  study  it.  Therefore  I  wish  to  focus 
the  attention  of  the  reader  upon  those  agen- 
cies having  to  do  with  the  practise  rather 
than  with  the  theory  of  Bible  religion. 

The  selection  of  a  course  of  Bible  study 

is  a  matter  of  real  importance.    Such  choice 

requires  a  study  of  the  local  field,  the  grade 

of  the   students,   their  previous   study,   the 

121 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN  LIFE 

style  of  class  (organized  or  small  group), 
the  teacher,  the  wishes  of  the  class  members, 
and  always  the  end  in  view.  There  is  spe- 
cial need  of  care  in  the  adjustment  of  the 
varied  resources  of  the  Bible  to  different 
classes;  the  selection  for  beginners,  for  ex- 
ample, of  material  which  is  rich  in  human 
or  heroic  interest,  and  of  outlines  for  adults 
that  give  opportunity  for  discussion,  ques- 
tioning, or  original  papers. 

II — Bible  Study  Rather  Than  Bible  Reading 
It  is  primarily  essential  that  a  Bible 
course  should  require  work — real  Bible  study. 
The  idea  that  Bible  study  demands  neither 
brains,  helps,  nor  sacrifice,  is  as  illogical  as 
it  is  perilous.  A  Bible  class  can  be  only  as 
effective  as  real  study  on  the  part  of  the 
members  permits  it  to  be.  To  make  Bible 
study  easy  is  to  trifle  with  the  whole  subject ; 
it  also  portends  failure  to  maintain  attend- 
ance and  sustained  interest. 

An  eminent  Greek  scholar  confest  that  his 
highest  devotional  moments  came  during  the 

122 


COURSES   AND   LITERATURE 

most  difficult  processes  of  translation  and  in 
the  midst  of  his  most  intense  intellectual 
concentration.  Bible  readings  have  some- 
times been  a  confusion  and  a  snare ;  the  good 
becoming  enemy  to  the  best,  when  reading 
has  been  substituted  for  a  genuine,  thoughtful 
study  of  the  Scriptures. 

A  college  president  told  me  that  his  first 
and  his  abiding  interest  in  the  Bible  was  the 
result  of  eight  months  of  study  upon  the 
second  book  of  Samuel.  At  first  he  was  in- 
clined to  feel  insulted  that  his  professor  in 
the  seminary  should  ask  him  to  spend  one 
month  upon  such  a  small  book  of  the  Old 
Testament.  As  he  began  to  delve  into  the 
subject,  translating  the  book  from  the  orig- 
inal, reading  it,  and  rereading  it  with  dif- 
ferent topics  in  mind,  comparing  it,  tracing 
its  message,  and  mastering  the  outside  lit- 
erature upon  it,  he  became  truly  interested 
and  fascinated ;  the  book  began  to  live  in  his 
mind,  it  laid  hold  upon  his  heart  and  imag- 
ination, and  ministered  to  his  deepest  needs. 
"Now,"    he    continued,    "whenever    I    am 

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THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

called  upon  suddenly  to  preach  a  sermon,  to 
deliver  a  political  address,  or  to  make  an 
after-dinner  speech,  I  invariably  take  my 
text  from  the  second  book  of  Samuel;  it  is 
the  one  book  in  the  Bible  that  I  really 
know." 

For  persons  who  truly  wish  to  study  the 
Bible  I  would  suggest  a  series  of  studies 
which  has  been  used  by  thousands  of  men 
of  diverse  races  and  beliefs.  I  refer  to 
"The  Teaching  of  Jesus  and  His  Apostles," 
written  by  Dean  Edward  I.  Bosworth,  of 
Oberlin  College.  The  outline  is  arranged  for 
daily  work  and  is  intended  to  cover  thirty 
weeks  of  study.  It  is  so  arranged  as  to 
assist  the  student  in  the  formation  of  a 
Bible  habit.  The  course  will  be  of  little  in- 
terest without  the  expenditure  of  time  and 
labor.  However,  by  giving  twenty  minutes 
or  half  an  hour  of  earnest  study  each  day,  the 
New  Testament  can  actually  be  discovered. 

One  may  well  remember  that  nothing  worth 
while  is  ever  gained  in  any  line  of  education 
without  the  expenditure  of  genuine  effort. 

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COURSES   AND   LITERATURE 

III — Bible  Literature  and  Bible  Habits 

Dr.  Augustus  H.  Strong  has  said:  "No 
study  will  be  of  great  use  which  is  not 
earnest  enough  to  be  regular.' ' 

Every  kind  of  really  successful  Bible 
propaganda  with  which  I  am  familiar  fo- 
cuses its  courses,  its  methods,  and  its  spirit 
upon  the  formation  of  regular  Bible  habits; 
as  a  rule,  daily  Bible  habits.  "It  behooves 
us  to  know,"  says  Epictetus,  "that  a  habit 
can  hardly  establish  itself  with  a  man  unless 
he  every  day  utters  the  same  things,  hears 
the  same  things,  and  applies  them  withal  to 
his  life. ' '  Bible  study  is  too  often  frus- 
trated by  the  lack  of  system,  migratory  or 
hit-or-miss  methods,  or  no  method.  Biblical 
literature  should  assist  the  student  to  make 
his  Bible  study  regular,  consistent,  and 
habitual.  A  Bible  course  should  begin  with 
a  definite  subject,  it  should  continue  upon 
the  theme,  and  it  should  arrive  at  a  con- 
crete goal. 

To  scout  the  ability  to  get  men  to  study 
the  Bible  daily  reveals  not  only  a  lack  of 

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THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN  LIFE 

heroic  enterprise  but  also  a  blindness  to  the 
facts.  Among  the  thirty  thousand  college 
men  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  who 
continued  in  voluntary  Bible  classes  last  col- 
lege season,  8,997  students  in  332  institu- 
tions were  reported  to  be  following  daily 
Bible-study  habits.  It  is  needless  to  remark 
that  these  men  compose  the  vital  body  of  the 
college  Bible  movement.  Among  those  agen- 
cies which  have  most  successfully  assisted  in 
bringing  about  regular  habits  of  Bible  study 
there  must  be  included  the  ever-increasing 
number  of  books  which  divide  their  weekly 
studies  into  seven  distinct  portions.  Every 
possible  help  to  the  formation  of  a  habit  of 
regular  retirement  in  the  quiet  places  of  the 
soul  is  peculiarly  worth  while  to-day. 

So  shall  I  keep 

Forever  in  my  heart  one  silent  space: 

A  little  sacred  spot  of  loneliness, 

Where  to  set  up  the  memory  of  Thy  cross: 

A  little  quiet  garden,  where  no  man 

May  pass  or  rest,  forever,  sacred  still 

To  visions  of  Thy  sorrow  and  Thy  love. 


126 


a  t 


a  «  5 


7  H 


-  - 


COURSES   AND   LITERATURE 

IV — Bible  Studies   Suggestive  not 
Exhaustive 

Bible  courses,  like  some  Bible  teachers, 
narrate  not  wisely  but  too  much.  The  secret 
of  the  effective  Bible  outline  lies  in  its  in- 
ference, incentive,  and  arousal  of  fresh 
ideas — a  new  viewpoint  through  thought-pro- 
voking questions.  It  should  furnish  an  in- 
timation, a  glimpse,  a  suggestion  that  it  only 
half  satisfies.  Interrogation,  not  statement, 
is  the  rule  for  the  stirring  of  minds. 

Robertson  Nicoll,  in  The  British  Weekly, 
remarks:  "The  teacher  who  first  calls  the 
mind  from  its  slumber  and  sets  it  to  work 
and  to  love  work,  he  is  the  true  teacher."  A 
Bible  course  or  a  Bible  book  should  set  men 
to  work.  To  do  this  a  book  must  be  inter- 
esting— to  interest  is  to  help.  Our  Bible  lit- 
erature should  lift  life  out  of  the  dead  level 
of  perfunctoriness  and  platitude.  It  may  do 
this  by  the  attractive  presentation  of  Bible 
principles,  or,  as  Matthew  Arnold  would  say, 
by  "  turning  a  stream  of  fresh  thought  upon 
our  stock  notions  and  habits.' ' 

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THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

V — Bible  Reference-books 
Bible  interest  is  often  aroused  by  reading 
a  great  book  written  upon  the  Bible.  Teach- 
ers may  well  have  on  the  table  about  which 
their  classes  meet  a  few  epoch-making  trea- 
tises upon  the  nature  of  the  Bible,  the  life 
and  teachings  of  Jesus,  intellectual  and  re- 
ligious questions,  books  aimed  at  devotional 
Bible  study,  and  one  or  two  pieces  of  litera- 
ture relating  to  Bible  teaching  and  Bible 
organization.  The  following  books  are  types 
of  such  literature. 

Bible  Study  the  Great  Way  Into  Life 's  Values.    King. 

Sixty  Years  with  the  Bible.    Clarke. 

Theology  of  the  New  Testament.     Stevens. 

Introduction  to  the  New  Testament.    Dods. 

Book  of  the  Twelve  Prophets.     George  Adam  Smith. 

(2  vols.) 
Leaves  for  Quiet  Hours.    Matheson. 
The  Apostle  Paul.    Sabatier. 
Studies  in  the  Life  of  Christ.    Fairbairn. 
What  is  Christianity?    Adolph  Harnack. 
The  Making  of  a  Teacher.    Brumbaugh. 

A  well-chosen  Bible  reference  library  is 
almost  indispensable  if  excellence  in  Bible 

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COURSES   AND   LITERATURE 

study  is  meditated.  One  successful  Bible 
teacher  told  me  that  he  read  two  books  upon 
the  Bible  each  week  to  freshen  and  to  deepen 
his  Bible  enthusiasm. 

VI — Adequate  Objective 
Biblical  literature  should  be  resultful.     It 
should  be  good  for  some  definite  and  practi- 
cal purpose.  To  be  serviceable,  Bible  studies 
need  clear  objective. 

There  are  at  least  five  tangible  purposes 
set  before  modern  Bible  study.  Bible  litera- 
ture should  be  written  and  chosen  in  the  light 
of  these  demands. 

1.  Education.  If  the  Bible,  as  Burke 
said,  is  not  a  book  but  a  literature;  if  it 
contains  the  richest  English,  the  rarest 
thought  and  imagination;  if  it  is  "the  fun- 
damental document  of  Christianity";  Bib- 
lical helps  should  not  fail  in  presenting  the 
educational  values  of  this  book.  Indeed,  the 
prime  essential  of  a  Bible  course  lies  in  its 
contribution  of  Scriptural  facts.  While  a 
Bible  outline  should  not  become  lost  in  ge- 

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THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

ography  and  petty  critical  and  textual  mat- 
ters, it  should,  nevertheless,  tell  in  a  plain 
way  what  the  Bible  says.  Bible  students  de- 
mand informational  values.  They  wish  to 
know,  as  a  student  exprest  it,  what  it  is  all 
about.  The  young  man  who  told  his  teacher 
recently  that  he  had  always  thought  that 
Sodom  was  the  wife  of  Gomorrah,  needed 
information  more  than  he  needed  metaphys- 
ics or  theology.  Bible  books  for  the  sake  of 
Bible  facts,  is  a  timely  motto. 

2.  Eeligious  Conviction.  Those  people 
who  select  or  prepare  Bible  studies  should 
not  forget  that  the  Bible  is  the  place  of 
meeting  between  the  soul  and  God.  The 
Bible  is  peculiarly  personal — it  deals  with 
me.  Bible  helps  should  develop  a  sense  of 
spiritual  reality.  They  should  arouse  the 
conscience  by  opening  the  eyes  of  the  moral 
and  religious  understanding.  Distinctions 
between  right  and  wrong  should  be  empha- 
sized. The  student  should  be  led  to  say: 
11 Search  me,  0  God,  and  know  my  heart.' ' 

Scores  of  students  at  Yale,  last  year,  used 

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COURSES   AND   LITERATURE 

that  new  and  invigorating  set  of  devotional 
studies  entitled  "The  Will  of  God,"  by  Dr. 
Henry  B.  Wright.  These  studies  are  aimed 
at  the  production  of  religious  conviction. 
The  chief  question  presented  is:  What  does 
God  wish  me  to  do  with  my  life? 

3.  Teaching  Ministky.  The  first  Bible 
group  was  a  training-class.  Jesus  was  a 
teacher  of  teachers.  The  church  and  Chris- 
tian organizations  as  a  whole  wait  for  effect- 
ive teaching  leadership.  The  Bible  will  not 
become  as  "universal  as  our  race,"  until 
Christian  leaders  have  keener  conviction  and 
a  workable  method  relative  to  the  subject  of 
teacher-training.  Books  upon  this  subject 
should  not  only  be  brought  to  the  Bible 
class,  but  time  should  be  faithfully  allotted 
for  the  discussion  of  the  opportunity  and  the 
method  of  Bible  leadership.  Large  organized 
classes  for  laymen  seldom  train  Bible-teach- 
ers. Bible  lectures  and  sermons  are  not 
chiefly  intended  to  make  approved  Bible 
leaders.  Even  those  who  teach  small  classes 
do  not  always  have  in  mind  the  discovery 

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THE  BIBLE  AND   MODERN  LIFE 

and  the  training  of  future  teachers.  The  fol- 
lowing literature  used  in  a  discussional  way 
in  Bible  classes,  and  also  in  book  reviews 
before  the  class,  have  helped  in  this  teaching 
objective : 

The  Field  of  Ethics.     Palmer. 

The  Teaching  of  Bible  Classes.    See. 

Talks   to   Teachers.    James. 

The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching.    Gregory. 

How  to  Make  the  Bible  Real.    King. 

The  Training  of  Bible  Teachers. 

The  Prophets  as  Teachers.    Kent. 

4.  Arousal  of  Social  Eesponsibility.  Bib- 
lical literature  should  add  a  new  and  wide 
sense  of  social  and  national  obligation.  The 
demand  upon  the  Bible  is  not  merely  indi- 
vidualistic. Biblical  principles  are  to  be  ap- 
plied to  modern  problems.  They  are  for 
attachment  to  practical  life.  To  study  in 
Bible  classes  Jesus'  teachings  concerning  the 
poor,  the  rich,  or  the  unfortunate,  and  to 
fail  to  make  actual  application  of  these 
teachings  in  the  life  about  us  is  religious 
mockery.  I  found  last  year,  in  Asia,  that 
the   Orientals    accepted   most   eagerly   that 

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COURSES   AND   LITERATURE 

Bible  literature  which  touched  directly  and 
progressively  their  social  and  political  con- 
science. 

A  new  series  of  Bible  studies  now  in  prepa- 
ration by  four  specialists  in  Bible  study  is 
directed  immediately  to  the  message  of  the 
Bible  to  modern  life.  The  studies  by  Kent 
and  Smith,  "The  "Work  and  Teachings  of  the 
Earlier  Prophets,"  are  meeting  with  wide 
popularity,  due  largely  to  the  social  messages 
of  the  Minor  Prophets  to  our  own  times. 
Men  in  the  church  and  out  of  the  church  are 
also  reading  with  interest  and  enthusiasm 
Professor  Rauschenbusch's  masterly  book  on 
"Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis."  There 
is  indeed  a  real  international  patriotism 
in  the  modern  spirit  of  Bible  study — a  patri- 
otism which  will  not  be  fully  understood, 
spoken,  or  enacted,  until  the  Bible  truly  be- 
comes the  Book  of  the  Nations — until  they 
"gather  from  the  west  and  the  east  by  the 
word  of  the  holy  One,  rejoicing  in  the  re- 
membrance of  God."  James  Russell  Lowell 
spoke  with  a  prophetic  insight: 

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THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

Slowly  the  Bible  of  the  race  is  writ, 

And  not  on  paper  leaves  nor  leaves  of  stone, 

Each  age,  each  kindred  adds  a  verse  to  it, 

Texts  of  despair,  or  hope,  or  joy,  or  moan; 

While  sings  the  sea,  while  mists  the  mountains  shroud, 

While  thunder's  surges  burst  on  cliffs  of  cloud, 

Still  at  the  prophets'  feet  the  nations  sit. 

5.  Modeen  Evangelism.  The  supreme 
value  of  Bible  literature  depends  upon  its 
power  to  transform  character,  to  make  men 
"safe  in  God."  The  Bible  is  the  word  of 
our  Father  to  His  children  whom  He  loves 
and  for  whom  His  Son  died. 

Who  has  yet  sounded  the  possibility  of 
Bible  literature;  that  is,  literature  which  is 
filled  with  the  central  message  of  the  Bible 
in  bringing  men  to  know  Jesus  Christ  in  our 
world  to-day?  The  Bible  courses,  Bible 
helps,  and  Bible  reference-books  which  deal 
seriously  and  profoundly  with  the  divine  life 
and  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ,  compose  the 
literature  par  excellence  for  our  time.  Prof. 
Henry  Drummond,  when  asked  his  recom- 
mendation as  to  the  three  best  books,  re- 
plied:  "First,  The  Life  of  Christ;   second, 

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COURSES   AND   LITERATURE 

The  Life  of  Christ;  third  The  Life  of 
Christ.' ' 

"The  Character  of  Jesus,"  by  Horace 
Bushnell;  "Studies  in  the  Life  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  by  Edward  Bosworth;  "The  Fact 
of  Christ,"  by  Carnegie  Simpson;  "Studies 
of  the  Man  Christ  Jesus,"  by  Robert  Speer, 
with  many  books  in  like  strain,  are  vital 
Bible-study  books,  for  these  lead  men  inevi- 
tably into  the  transforming  presence  of  Him 
"whom  not  having  seen  ye  love." 

It  is  this  life  of  Christ  which,  as  Beecher 
said,  is  "never  finished."  In  Him  and  in 
books  about  Him,  modern  evangelism  lives 
and  moves  and  has  its  being. 

Then  stand  before  that  fact,  that  Life  and  Death, 
Stay  there  at  gaze,  till  it  dispart,  dispread, 
As  tho  a  star  should  open  out,  all  sides, 
Grow  the  world  on  you,  as  it  is  my  world. 

It  is  the  day  of  Biblical  literature.  De- 
mands for  it  are  nation-wide.  Its  future  use 
will  be  extensive  beyond  present  comprehen- 
sion; and  its  profit  will  be  according  to  its 
representation  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ. 

135 


Chapter  VIII 
THE  BIBLE  AS  A  MEANS  TO  SERVICE 


137 


Prom  an  address  of  Lincoln  before  the  Bible  Society 
at  Springfield:  "It  seems  to  me  that  nothing  short  of 
infinite  wisdom  could  by  any  possibility  have  devised  and 
given  to  man  this  excellent  and  perfect  moral  code.  It  is 
suited  to  men  in  all  the  conditions  of  life,  and  includes 
all  the  duties  they  owe  to  their  Creator,  to  themselves, 
and  to  their  fellow  man." 

Most  religions  are  meant  to  be  straight  lines  connecting 
two  points — God  and  man.  But  Christianity  has  three 
points — God,  man,  and  his  brother — with  two  lines  to  make 
a  right  angle. 

— Maltbie  D.  Babcock 


Give,  and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you;  good  measure, 
prest  down,  shaken  together,  running  over,  shall  they 
give  into  your  bosom.  For  with  what  measure  ye  mete 
it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again. 

—Luke  6 :  38 

On  one  of  the  battle-fields  of  South  Africa  a  young 
chaplain  found  a  Highlander  sorely  wounded  and  with  life 
ebbing  quickly  away.  He  asked  him  to  allow  him  to  pray, 
but  the  soldier  said  gruffly,  "No,  I  don't  want  prayers. 
I  want  water."  The  chaplain  secured,  with  great  diffi- 
culty, some  water,  and  then  asked  the  refreshed  man  if 
he  might  read  a  Psalm.  "No,"  said  the  soldier  again. 
"I  am  too  cold  to  listen  to  a  Psalm."  The  chaplain 
instantly  stript  off  his  coat  and  wrapt  it  tenderly  round 
the  wounded  soldier.  And  then,  touched  by  the  chaplain's 
sympathy,  the  man  turned  and  said,  '  *  Chaplain,  if  religion 
makes  men  like  you,  let's  have  that  Psalm." 

The  man  comes  out  in  his  work;  the  character  is  re- 
vealed by  conduct. 

— Hugh  Black 


0  Cross,  that  liftest  up  my  head, 

1  dare  not  ask  to  fly  from  thee; 
I  lay  in  dust  life's  glory  dead, 

And  from  the  ground  there  blossoms  red 
Life  that  shall  endless  be. 

—George   Matheson 


138 


Chapter  VIII 
THE  BIBLE  AS  A  MEANS  TO  SEEVICE 

I — Modern  Tendencies 

John  Wesley  said:  "The  Bible  knows 
nothing  of  a  solitary  religion.' '  Yet  for 
generations  the  church  has  restricted  the 
Bible  message  to  the  individual.  It  is  true 
that  Luther  cut  the  chains  that  bound  the 
Bible  to  the  church  altars,  but  neither  he 
nor  his  immediate  successors  discovered  the 
social  gospel  of  the  Christian  Scriptures. 
Indeed,  a  study  of  certain  periods  of  Chris- 
tianity might  arouse  wonder  as  to  whether 
the  Bible  really  contains  a  social  message. 
The  perusal  of  Jeremy  Taylor's  "Holy  Liv- 
ing/ '  or  "The  Confessions  of  St.  Augus- 
tine,''  tend  to  make  one  quite  forget  that  the 
Bible  presents  any  word  save  to  the  lonely 
individual,  searching  his  own  personal  heart 
and  busy  with  his  own  personal  prayers. 

Fifty  years  ago,  even,  the  hymns  of  the 

139 


THE  BIBLE  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

church  were  almost  entirely  hymns  directed 
to  the  individual  conscience  and  heart. 

"My  faith  looks  up  to  thee." 


"Holy  Ghost!  with  light  divine, 
Shine  upon  this  heart  of  mine"; 

hymns  surpassingly  beautiful,  but  self-cen- 
tered and  introspective,  expressing  only  the 
half-truth  of  religion.  The  prophets,  for  our 
fathers,  touched  no  note  of  social  or  moral 
reform.  They  did  not  believe  the  Bible  for 
its  works'  sake.  Jesus  was  Savior,  indeed, 
but  to  them  he  was  hardly  a  great  physician, 
a  healer  of  the  nations,  the  founder  of  a 
gospel  of  labor,  the  lover  and  uplifter  of  the 
poor,  a  humanitarian  par  excellence  going 
about  doing  good. 

To-day,  however,  we  are  in  the  midst  of 
a  new  Bible  emphasis.  In  these  times  of 
insistent  demand  for  a  visualized  religion, 
the  Bible  lies  at  the  heart  of  modern  reform, 
both  for  the  recasting  of  theology  and  for 
the  reconstruction  of  society.    We  are  per- 

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BIBLE    AS    MEANS    TO    SERVICE 

ceiving  that  the  genius  of  the  Bible  is  the 
life  of  the  Spirit  in  its  reaction  upon  the 
world.  ' l  Character, ' '  says  Professor  Edward 
I.  Bosworth,  "is  growing  good-will  express- 
ing itself  in  increasingly  efficient  action." 
The  Bible  movements  of  to-day  are  placing 
emphasis  upon  this  active  good-will,  this 
neighbor  part  of  the  one  great  command- 
ment. The  hymns  which  we  delight  to  sing 
are  not  simply  those  dealing  with  the  satisfied 
personal  sense  of  being  safe  in  God,  nor 
merely  a  "forgetfulness  of  evils  and  a  truce 
from  cares,"  as  Hesiod  sang;  rather  we 
sing— 

"The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war, 

A  kingly  crown  to  gain; 
His  blood-red  banner  streams  afar: 
Who  follows  in  His  train?" 

or  Dr.  Gladden's  matchless  hymn  of  work: 

"0  Master,  let  me  walk  with  Thee 
In  lowly  paths  of  service  free. ' ' 

Professor  Peabody,  of  Harvard,  has  said 
that  the  Bible  has  emerged  from  the  realm 

141 


THE   BIBLE  AND   MODERN  LIFE 

of  individual  ethics  into  the  field  of  social 
and  organic  ethics.  "It  is  the  age  of  the 
social  question,"  he  declares.  "The  mind  of 
the  age  has  been  led  from  a  Ptolemaic  con- 
ception of  life,  where  the  single  soul  was  the 
center  of  the  universe,  to  a  Copernican  doc- 
trine of  life,  where  the  single  soul  is  set  like 
a  planet  in  a  larger  universe,  and  finds  its 
orbit,  with  multitudes  of  other  souls,  round 
a  common  center." 

This  tendency  to  connect  the  Bible  with 
serviceableness  is  indefinitely  expanding  Bi- 
ble possibilities.  Many  a  Bible  class  has  be- 
come static  and  anemic  because  it  has  lacked 
connection  with  the  great  tide  of  the  world's 
need.  Some  Bible  classes  seem  to  have  been 
characterized  by  action  in  two  directions 
only :  they  have  started  and  they  have  stopt. 
They  remind  one  of  the  old  negro  lady  who, 
when  asked:  "Where  are  you  going,  Skier 
Susie?"  replied:  "Lasee,  Fse  done  been 
where  Pse  gwine." 

The  incentive  of  that  "vital  altruism," 
which  runs  like  a  golden  thread  throughout 

142 


-   a 
u   - 


<         -    C 


BIBLE    AS    MEANS    TO    SERVICE 

the  Bible,  is  now  not  simply  helping  to  usher 
men  out  of  the  parish  into  the  world;  it  is 
also  taking  them  out  of  the  realm  of  theologi- 
cal dialect  and  formal  integrity  into  the 
larger  room  of  natural  religious  expression 
and  serviceable  reality. 

In  other  words,  the  Bible  is  at  present 
assisting  in  the  unification  of  the  two  great 
branches  of  the  religious  life:  piety  and 
service,  faith  and  works,  goodness  and  use- 
fulness. We  are  taking  our  Bibles  into  life 
to  say: 

"One  lesson,  nature,  let  me  learn  of  thee, 
One  lesson  which  in  every  wind  is  blown, 
One  lesson  of  two  duties  kept  in  one, 
Of  toil,  unsevered  from  tranquillity. ' ' 

And  this  prayer  is  simply  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus:  "If  ye  know  my  commandments 
happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  them.,, 

I  saw  the  Bible  in  the  hands  of  Indian 
Christians  in  the  morning,  and  in  the  eve- 
ning I  found  them  lifting  their  unfortunate 
brothers    out   of   the   depths   of   ignorance, 

143 


THE  BIBLE  AND   MODERN   LIFE 

disease,  and  poverty  through  the  social 
amelioration  of  night  schools  and  hospitals 
and  clubs  for  the  poor. 

In  connection  with  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations  in  the  city  of  Shang- 
hai, the  eight  hundred  Chinese  men  who 
studied  the  Bible,  last  year,  went  forth  from 
their  Bible  classes  to  lead  in  that  marvelous 
crusade  in  which  a  fund  of  65,000  taels  was 
secured  to  buy  and  equip  land  for  a  building 
in  which  to  teach  religion  to  the  boys  of 
Shanghai,  and  for  an  athletic  field  where 
these  youth  could  learn  hygienic  righteous- 
ness. 

At  Princeton  University,  last  student  year, 
1909-10,  one  hundred  men  of  the  524  men 
enrolled  in  voluntary  Bible  classes,  under 
the  spell  of  the  stirring  ideals  of  Jesus  as 
discust  in  their  small  groups,  went  out  ac- 
tually to  engage  in  the  following  practical 
service : 

Teaching  educational  classes  in  university  and  settle- 
ment houses;  relief  work  in  connection  with  the  Salva- 
tion Army;  leading  Bible  classes  in  the  Young  Men's 
144 


BIBLE    AS    MEANS    TO    SERVICE 

Christian  Associations;  visiting  the  sick;  conducting 
Sunday-schools  and  boys'  clubs  in  the  country;  arrang- 
ing church  lectures  in  the  rural  districts. 

As  Christian  workers,  whether  within  or 
without  the  church,  we  may  with  profit 
examine  closely  our  Bible-study  motives. 
What  is  the  object  of  our  teaching?  Is  this 
Book,  which  sprung  out  of  life,  returning  to 
life  where  its  message  belongs?  Are  we 
making  it  a  vital  book,  or  simply  an  aca- 
demic or  metaphysical  book  in  our  Bible  de- 
partment? Does  it  belong  with  our  deeds  or 
with  our  words?  The  exactions  of  modern 
life  are  imperative.  Are  our  Bible  classes 
keeping  pace  with  the  complex  moral  and 
social  issues  of  the  world-spirit?  By  what 
means  are  we  to  redeem  society  if  not 
through  the  spiritual  motive-power  of  the 
gospel  of  the  New  Testament?  Jesus  repeat- 
edly drew  attention  to  the  serviceable  use  of 
the  Bible:  " Every  one  therefore  that  hear- 
eth  these  words  of  mine,  and  doeth  them, 
shall  be  likened  unto  a  wise  man,  who  built 
his  house  upon  the  rock." 

145 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

I  would  like  to  consider  concretely  several 
ways  in  which  the  Bible  may  become  prac- 
tically useful  through  the  church  to  our 
generation. 

II — Bible  Study  and  Missions 
The  practical  study  of  the  Bible  should  be 
closely  related  to  missionary  endeavor.  The 
modern  home  and  foreign  missionary  under- 
takings suffer  to-day  quite  as  much  from  the 
lack  of  a  deep  and  steadily  growing  spiritual 
experience  on  the  part  of  their  propagandists 
as  from  scant  material  resources.  The  Bible 
is  the  guide-book  of  missions  and  of  mis- 
sionaries. Bible  study  is  the  chief  founda- 
tion of  missionary  incentive;  it  vitalizes  and 
deepens  the  current  of  missionary  life. 

A  young  and  well-educated  leader,  who 
has  been  the  means  of  fairly  reconstructing 
the  religious  thought  of  an  important  sec- 
tion of  the  Far  East  told  me  that  he  secured 
his  first  impulse  toward  his  work  in  a  small 
Bible  group  in  a  State  institution  in  the  Mid- 
dle West.     The   11,939   men   students   who 

146 


BIBLE    AS    MEANS    TO    SERVICE 

were  studying  missions  last  year  in  the  col- 
leges of  North  America,  in  connection  with 
the  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  were  al- 
most universally  enrolled  in  the  Bible  classes 
of  these  institutions.  We  find  that  practi- 
cally every  effective  student  volunteer  in 
recent  years,  has  made  personal  Bible  study 
and  Bible-study  promotion  one  of  the  first 
objects  of  his  career  abroad. 

The  men  who  are  called  home  from  work 
in  other  lands  are  not  always  failures 
in  executive  and  administrative  positions. 
Quite  as  often  they  have  become  incompe- 
tent through  the  neglect  of  personal  habits 
of  Bible  study  and  prayer,  for  the  sake  of 
other  phases  of  business  which  seemed  to 
them  more  important.  The  omission  of  such 
exercise  undercuts  one's  power  at  the  very 
point  of  its  greatest  strength,  namely,  in  the 
force  of  example.  In  one  of  the  cities  of 
India  an  English  missionary  leader  with  a 
growing  spiritual  experience  has  an  unusual 
hold  upon  men  of  all  classes.  Some  one 
asked  in  one  of  his  Bible  classes  how  it  was 

147 


THE   BIBLE  AND   MODERN   LIFE 

thought  that  Jesus  would  come  into  the  room 
if  he  were  to  visit  their  city.  A  Hindu  stu- 
dent replied :  "  I  think  he  would  come  in  just 
as  Larsen  comes  into  our  class.' '  The  light 
on  the  face  of  a  Bible  student  in  the  East  is 
more  conclusive  than  argument. 

Ill — The  Bible  and  Modern  Problems 
Moreover,  the  direct  application  of  Bible 
teachings  to  present-day  questions  is  afford- 
ing a  new  place  to  Scripture.  This  prac- 
tical tendency  has  appealed  to  college  men 
who  last  year  purchased  and  used  thousands 
of  copies  of  books  relating  to  the  social  sig- 
nificance of  New  Testament  teachings.  These 
students  eagerly  discust  in  boarding  clubs, 
Greek-letter  fraternities,  and  in  their  private 
rooms,  Jesus'  teaching  to  men  concerning 
the  relation  of  Christianity  to  such  subjects 
as  money,  municipal  evils,  conditions  of  the 
poor,  the  laboring  man,  and  the  social  and 
political  tendencies  in  the  nation. 

We  discover  in  various  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, in  clubs  and  associations  both  religious 

148 


BIBLE    AS    MEANS    TO    SERVICE 

and  secular,  that  men  who  never  attend 
church  or  prayer-meeting  will  discuss  vigor- 
ously the  truth  of  the  Bible  as  related 
to  the  labor  problem.  But  is  not  the  labor 
problem  a  religious  problem?  Was  not 
Jesus  interested  in  it?  Did  he  not  spend  a 
great  part  of  his  earthly  ministry  in  dealing 
with  the  conditions  of  the  time  in  which  he 
lived?  And  is  not  a  thorough  study  of  so- 
cial conditions  quite  indispensable  to  the 
proper  adjustment  between  religion  and 
service?  In  a  Middle  Western  State  I  found 
both  members  of  faculty  and  students  deeply 
interested  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs.  The  able 
professor  of  the  department  of  political 
economy  stated  that  he  considered  the  Book 
of  Proverbs  the  best  reference-book  on  eco- 
nomics in  the  world,  as  it  contains  the  un- 
changing principles  which  hold,  whether  the 
tariff  is  revised  up  or  down. 

Many  people  are  interested  in  the  temper- 
ance question.  How  many  of  us  have 
studied  this  question  in  the  light  of  Chris- 
tian revelation  in  the  Old  Testament,  and 

149 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

then  in  the  New  Testament?  I  discovered  a 
Bible  class  some  time  ago  in  which  the  mem- 
bers studied  for  a  whole  year  Jesus'  attitude 
to  the  will,  having  for  a  chief  purpose  the 
reaching  of  one  of  the  members  of  this  class 
who  was  addicted  to  the  liquor  habit.  That 
man  stopt  drinking,  not  by  signing  a  pledge, 
but  by  receiving  gradually  into  his  resist- 
ance faculties  a  new  power  of  self-control. 
As  he  exprest  it,  the  Bible  gave  him  a  new 
motive — a  fresh  and  overmastering  desire. 

In  his  " Following  the  Equator,' '  Mark 
Twain,  in  speaking  of  people  limiting  their 
habits,  says: 

"When  I  was  a  youth  I  used  to  take  all  kinds  of 
pledges,  and  do  my  best  to  keep  them;  but  I  never 
could,  because  I  didn't  strike  at  the  root  of  the  habit — 
the  desire;  I  generally  broke  down  within  the  month. 
Once  I  tried  limiting  a  habit.  That  worked  tolerably 
well  for  a  while.  I  pledged  myself  to  smoke  but  one 
cigar  a  day.  I  kept  the  cigar  waiting  until  bedtime, 
then  I  had  a  luxurious  time  with  it.  But  desire  perse- 
cuted me  every  day  and  all  day  long;  so,  within  the 
week  I  found  myself  hunting  for  larger  cigars  than  I 
had  been  used  to  smoke ;  then  larger  ones  still,  and  still 
150 


BIBLE    AS    MEANS    TO    SERVICE 

larger  ones.  Within  the  fortnight  I  was  getting  cigars 
made  for  me — on  a  yet  larger  pattern.  They  still  grew 
and  grew  in  size.  Within  the  month  my  cigar  had 
grown  to  such  proportions  that  I  could  have  used  it  as 
a  crutch.' ' 

Modern  Bible  study  defends  its  claims 
upon  thinking  men  because  of  the  fact  that 
it  reaches  the  inner  desires  of  men  as  well 
as  the  external  results  of  their  desires  in 
life  problems.  "Whatever  success  I  have 
obtained  in  the  business  world,' '  said  a 
prominent  and  successful  business  man 
recently,  "is  largely  due  to  the  character 
and  ethical  inspiration  of  that  greatest  of 
all  Christian  philosophers,  St.  Paul." 

IV — Bible  Study  and  Youth  in  the  Sunday- 
school 

Bible  stndy  is,  furthermore,  one  of  the 
chief  means  through  which  the  young  men 
and  young  women  of  our  churches  and  Sun- 
day-schools can  be  led  forth  into  definite 
service. 

I  listened  recently  to  a  leader  of  Sunday- 

151 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN  LIFE 

school  work  who  uttered  the  following  sig- 
nificant statement:  Twenty-eight  million 
people  in  the  Sunday-school  army;  if  these 
marched  four  abreast,  eight  hours  a  day  and 
six  days  a  week,  a  spectator  must  needs 
stand  on  the  street  six  years  and  five  months 
to  see  them  all  pass  by. 

This  is  truly  an  impressive  and  highly 
gratifying  piece  of  information,  but  just 
what  does  it  mean  in  terms  of  utility?  "We 
can  not  parade  the  record  of  great  enrol- 
ments as  in  themselves  certificates  of  merit. 
We  must  demand  insistently:  What  shall  be 
the  social  result  from  this  vast  undertaking? 
What  is  the  visible  and  tangible  service  to 
our  time,  even  beyond  the  informational,  the 
devotional,  and  the  evangelistic  influence? 
Indeed,  we  must  press  on  to  ask  what  should 
be  the  national  effect  of  work  described  by 
such  vast  statistics. 

To  attach  the  Bible  study  of  Christendom 
to  heroic  enterprise  is  indeed  our  modern 
opportunity  and  our  modern  duty.  Our 
Bible  classes  need  something  to  do.     Mem- 

152 


BIBLE    AS    MEANS    TO    SERVICE 

bers  in  our  Sunday-schools  must  do  some- 
thing more  than  attend  class.  The  logic  of 
the  Scripture  must  be  found  compatible 
with  the  logic  of  life.  The  Sunday-school 
is  the  fulcrum  of  the  social  life  of  a  whole 
community;  at  least  it  might  be.  Every 
home  is  a  laboratory.  Every  need  of  the 
town  or  city  is  a  challenge.  The  Bible-school 
should  become  the  recruiting-place  for  leader- 
ship of  all  our  vast  philanthropic  and  social 
service.  These  are  no  days  for  persons  who 
are  satisfied  to  remain  supinely  participant 
and  dependent,  just  theorizing  about  religion. 
Inspiration  leads  to  deeds,  else  Bible-schools 
fade  into  fictitious  and  unsubstantial  mock- 
eries. The  stirring  messages  of  the  world 
come  from  those  who  serve,  from  those 
whose  light  is  not  reflected  or  refracted, 
from  those  who  are  testing  their  Bibles  in 
the  great  school  of  experience. 

What  can  the  church  and  Sunday-school 
do?  Some  concrete  answers  to  this  question 
are  presented  in  the  constructive  social  work 
of  the  Laity  League  for  Social  Service  in 

153 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN  LIFE 

New  York  City.  The  following  practical 
services  which  are  now  being  rendered  in 
New  York  by  this  League  may  well  engage 
the  attention  of  church  and  Sunday-school 
workers  everywhere. 

The  Flatbush  Avenue  Congregational  Church,  Brook- 
lyn, has  decided  to  do  neighborhood  work,  and  has  chosen 
a  volunteer  director  of  Civic  Work. 

The  social,  philanthropic  and  religious  workers  of  the 
lower  East  Side  formed  a  Local  Needs  Association  more 
than  a  year  ago,  and  are  taking  a  Survey  of  vital  facts. 
They  are  interested  in  playgrounds,  naturalization,  tuber- 
culosis and  neighborhood  amusements. 

The  Laymen's  Christian  Federation,  on  the  West  Side, 
above  Fifty-ninth  Street,  sent  a  large  number  of  boys 
away  for  two  weeks  each  last  summer.  They  have  done 
good  work  in  watching  the  moral  situation,  and  are 
attacking  the  problem  of  turning  the  energies  of  the 
boys  on  the  street  into  harmless  channels. 

The  various  interests,  social,  philanthropic,  moral  and 
religious,  above  Fourteenth  Street,  on  the  East  Side, 
have  formed  a  neighborhood  organization  for  the  better- 
ment of  that  district. 

In  October  there  was  formed  a  neighborhood  organiza- 
tion at  Hartley  House,  409  West  Forty-eighth  Street,  to 
include  those  interested  in  the  social  and  moral  improve- 
ment of  the  people  in  the  section  of  the  city  between 
Eighth  Avenue,  Forty-second  Street,  North  River  and 
Fifty-ninth  Street. 

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BIBLE    AS    MEANS    TO    SERVICE 

The  men  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist  Bible  Class  are 
being  assigned  to  various  lines  of  chic  and  social  work  in 
which  they  are  most  interested. 

The  Bible  class  at  the  Washington  Heights  Baptist 
Church  has  been  influential  in  arousing  the  men  in  that 
section  to  such  questions  as  parks,  transportation,  the 
play  of  the  children  and  the  character  of  amusements  at 
Fort  George. 

The  Central  Presbyterian  Men's  Club  has  been  active 
this  fall  in  the  work  of  the  Big  Brothers '  Movement. 

A  remarkable  series  of  meetings  for  men  and  women 
at  the  Mount  Morris  Baptist  Church  has  been  arranged 
by  Dr.  J.  Gardner  Smith  and  others.  Strong  speakers 
discuss  social  and  religious  questions. 

The  Holy  Trinity  Episcopal  Church  in  Brooklyn  has 
lately  taken  a  house  in  which  will  be  accommodated 
young  college  and  business  men. 

The  Spring  Street  Presbyterian  Church  is  cooperating 
with  Earl  Hall,  Columbia  University,  by  putting  to  work 
with  boys  and  men  the  volunteers  who  are  sent  by  that 
institution. 

The  Brotherhood  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church 
has  been  interested  in  various  civic  matters,  such  as  Sun- 
day theaters,  race-track  questions,  and  questions  of 
municipal  art.  A  number  of  the  men  have  been  working 
in  the  affiliated  churches  on  the  East  and  "West  Sides. 
They  have  also  cooperated  with  the  Charity  Organization 
Society  and  committees  of  the  City  Club. 

I  would  refer  the  reader  to  the  pamphlets 

155 


THE   BIBLE   AND   MODERN   LIFE 

of  the  Laity  League,  from  which  the  above 
facts  have  been  taken,  and  also  to  the  pam- 
phlet by  Miss  Byington,  entitled  "What  So- 
cial Workers  Should  Know  About  Their  Own 
Communities, ' '  which  will  be  stimulating  to 
all  those  who  are  interested  in  associating 
the  church  with  practical  activities. 

Neither  is  it  in  the  city  alone  that  the 
church  may  through  Bible  classes  become 
practically  interested  in  social  betterment. 
New  inspiration  and  new  plans  are  coming 
into  being  for  associating  the  rural  church 
and  the  rural  Sunday-schools  with  local  needs 
and  conditions.  Bible  workers  can  organize 
on  the  farm  an  athletic  club  for  boys  who  can 
not  be  lured  into  the  church  and  who  are  in 
greater  danger  from  overthrow  by  evil  habits 
and  evil  associates  than  are  our  city  boys. 
In  the  State  of  Michigan  it  was  recently  re- 
ported that  60  per  cent,  of  the  children  of 
primary-school  age  are  in  the  rural  commu- 
nities. Are  our  Bible  students  of  our  towns 
and  cities  at  all  interested  in  these  problems  f 

A  class  of  young  men  recently  visited  a 

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BIBLE    AS    MEANS    TO    SERVICE 

country  district.  They  discovered  the  con- 
ditions of  the  youth  of  that  section.  They 
started  a  Sunday-school  in  a  schoolhouse, 
then  organized  a  debating  society  for  the 
young  men,  and  an  industrial  school,  on  a 
small  scale,  for  young  women.  For  four 
years  this  Bible  class  has  been  furnishing 
both  inspiration  and  practical  enlightenment 
to  that  entire  community.  Many  have  been 
added  to  the  church;  seven  young  men  have 
been  led  to  prepare  for  college;  several 
members  of  the  Bible  class  have  become  ex- 
perts upon  rural  subjects ;  one  man  has  writ- 
ten a  booklet  upon  "The  Ministry  of  the 
Bible  to  the  Country  Districts."  That  Bible 
class  was  serviceable.  The  sessions  of  the 
class  were  always  about  something.  It  is 
needless  to  remark  that  the  attendance  was 
never  a  problem.  These  young  men  had 
verified  their  Bible  principles  in  the  house 
of  life.  Their  religion  did  not  depend  for 
its  sustenance  upon  class  discussions  of 
metaphysics  and  the  theory  of  sociology, 
neither  did  these  men  try  to  live  upon  the 

157 


THE   BIBLE  AND   MODERN   LIFE 

shewbread  of  early  memory.  Their  re- 
ligious life  was  fed  rather  by  fresh,  vital 
experience,  by  actual  contact  with  conditions, 
and  this  is  the  food  which  is  "meat  indeed." 
One  of  the  members  of  the  group  exprest 
the  value  of  his  study  by  saying:  "We  find 
that  Jesus'  principles  work." 

This  is  the  social  gospel  of  the  Bible.  And 
it  is  a  gospel  as  applicable  to  the  life  of  to- 
day as  it  was  applicable  seven  or  eight  cen- 
turies before  Christ,  when  Micah  exprest  it: 

"Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  Jehovah,  and  bow 
myself  before  the  high  God?  ...  He  hath  showed 
thee,  0  man,  what  is  good;  and  what  doth  Jehovah  re- 
quire of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  kindness, 
and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ? ' ' 

However  often  we  may  change  our  minds 
regarding  theology,  we  shall  never  sur- 
render our  belief  in  the  serviceable  applica- 
tion of  the  principles  of  the  Bible  to  every- 
day life. 


158 


APPENDIX 


169 


APPENDIX 

For  the  purpose  of  concrete  suggestion  as 
to  programs  of  Bible-class  sessions,  consti- 
tutions and  conference  ideas,  and  bibliog- 
raphy, I  append  certain  literature  in  use  by 
some  of  the  most  effective  organized  Bible 
work  for  men. 

I — Bible  Institute 

PROGRAM  AT  VANDERBILT  UNIVERSITY, 
NASHVILLE,  TENN. 
Friday  Evening 
7:30 — Rally  Meeting  for  the  Visiting  Delegates  and  for 
the    College   Men   and   Women    of   Tennessee 
Institutions. 
Address. 

Saturday  Morning 

9 :00 —  Devotional  Service. 
9 :30 — Sectional  Conferences. 

(A)  For  the  University  Men. 
Theme — Forces  Making  for  Effective  Bible  Study. 

1.  Systematic  and  Continuous  Enrolment. 

2.  A  Vitalized  Leader. 

161 


APPENDIX 

3.  The  Normal  Group. 
(B)  For  the  Preparatory  School  Men. 
Theme — Leadership. 

1.  Securing  and  Training  Leaders. 

2.  High  Ideals  of  a  Leader. 

3.  How  to  Improve  the  Class-hour. 
11:00 — Joint  Conference. 

Privileges  and  Opportunities  of  a  Group  Leader. 
11:30— Address. 

Saturday  Afternoon 

2 :30 — Session  for  Fraternity  Men. 

1.  The  Significance  to  the  Fraternity  of  Having  a 

Bible  Study  Group  in  the  Chapter  House. 

2.  Jesus  as  a  Fraternity  Man. 

3.  College  Fraternity  Bible  Study  Movements. 

Saturday  Evening 

7:30 — Sectional  Conferences. 

(A)  Faculty  Session. 

1.  Bible  Study,  a  Constructive  Force  in  College 

Life. 

2.  Faculty  Cooperation,  a  Factor  in  the  Growth 

of  Bible  Study. 

(B)  Preparatory  School  Session. 

1.  A  Bible  Study  Policy. 

2.  Enrolling  the  Men. 

3.  Creating  and  Maintaining  Interest. 

162 


APPENDIX 

Sunday  Morning 
9:30 — Session  for  Delegates. 

Theme — Bible  Study  Objectives. 

1.  Evangelism. 

2.  Daily  Devotional  Study. 
11:00 — University  Church  Service. 

(For  the  Delegates,  and  the  Students  and  Facul- 
ties of  the  Colleges  and  Universities  of  Nash- 
ville.) 
Address — Student  Life  and  Bible  Study  in  India. 

Sunday  Evening 

7:30 — Closing  Meeting  of  the  Institute. 
Illustrated  Lecture: 

" Bible  Study  the  World  Around.' ' 

77 — Sunday  Program  of  an  Organized  Bible 
Class  in  New  York  City 
Name  of  Organization 
Place  of  Meeting 

Time  of  Meeting  (10  a.m.  Sunday) 
Date. 
• Chairman  Advisory  Committee 

President 

Leader. 

163 


APPENDIX 

PROGRAM 

Class  Singing — Led  by  Orchestra  and  Precentor. 
Selection  by  Quartet     (Composed  of  members  of  the 

League.) 
Hymn:  "0  Master  Let  Me  Walk  with  Thee." 
Devotional  Exercises — Led  by  Class  President. 
Four  Minute  Paper:   "Christ's  Mission  as  Conceived 

by  Himself  and  His  Followers." 
Solo. 

Offering — Selection  by  Quartet. 
Question  Box   (Questions  presented  week  in  advance 

by  members  and  answered  by  teacher  or  pastor.) 
Address  by  Class  Leader — Subject : 

( '  Christian  Friendliness ' ' — Bosworth  's 
Studies,  John  1 :  35-51. 
Hymn:  "Love  Divine  all  Love  Excelling." 
Lord's  Prayer. 

Fifteen  Minutes '  informal  reception  in  Parish  House. 

The  daily  lessons  for  this  week  are  Study  XXV, 
Bosworth  's  Studies,  Pages  210-218,  Third  Chapter  of 
John. 

Six  o'clock,  Thursday  evening,  supper  in  the  Parish 
House  for  members  and  friends,  followed  by  half-hour 
discussion. 

The  most  important  League  meeting  of  the  year  will 

be  held  Thursday  evening,  May ,  at  the  Hotel 

In  connection  with  a  dinner  there  will  oc- 
cur the  Annual  Business  Meeting.  The  election  of 
officers  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  the  adoption  of  a 

164 


APPENDIX 

revised  constitution  are  among  the  important  considera- 
tions.   A  strong  list  of  after-dinner  speakers,  including 

and  No  member  of  the 

League  can  afford  to  miss  this  meeting.     Leave  your 

name  at  close  of  meeting  with ;  Chairman 

of  Reception  Committee. 

/// — Training  Leadership  for  a  State-wide 
Campaign.    State  Bible  Conference  Em- 
phasizing Service  held  at  Albion, 
Michigan 
Friday  Afternoon 

1:30 — Address:     " Trained  Bible  Study  Leadership  the 
Key  to  Every  Religious  Problem.' ' 

2:00— Discussion:    "The  Student  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  as  a  Training  School  for  Bible 
Study  Leadership. ' ' 
(Presentations  limited  to  3  minutes) 

a.  The  regular  Association  Bible  Class. 

b.  The  group  leaders'  training  class. 

c.  Practise  in  leading  classes. 

1.  In  the  Student  Association. 

2.  In  the  City  Association. 

3.  In  the  County  Association. 

4.  In  the  Local  High  School. 

5.  In  Rural  Sunday  Schools. 

d.  Study  of  local  field. 

e.  An  Organized  Bible  Study  Department. 

165 


APPENDIX 

4:00 — Discussion:    "The  College  as  a  Training  School 
for  Bible  Study  Leadership. ' ' 
a.  Bible  Study  in  the  Curriculum, 
fe.  Bible  Teacher  Training  Courses  in  the  Curriculum. 

Friday  Evening 

7:30 — Mass  Meeting. 

Address:    "Bible  Study — A  World-wide  Enterprise. ' ' 

Saturday  Forenoon 

8 : 00— Address :  Topic,  "Ideal— Every  Christian  Col- 
lege Man  a  Competent  Bible  Study  Leader  for 
the  Community  in  Which  He  Locates. ' ' 

8:30— Discussion:  "The  Field—Its  Call  for  Trained 
Bible  Study  Leadership. ' ' 

a.  The  Rural  Community. 

b.  The  Public  School. 

c.  The  Average  City. 

d.  The  Large  City. 

10:30— Address:  "Cooperation  of  All  Agencies  for  a 
State-wide  Program  Under  Trained  Leader- 
ship/ ' 

IV — Bible-study  Conference,  Cornell 
University 

Friday  Evening 
7:30  p.m. — Intercollegiate  Sociable. 

Saturday  Morning 
9 :00  a.m. — Devotional  Exercises. 
166 


APPENDIX 

9:30-10:00— " Why  of  Bible  Study." 
10:00-11:30— "Essentials  for  Effective  Bible  Study.' ' 

1.  Enrolment — 
(Systematic  organization.) 
(Continuous  follow-up  work.) 

2.  A  Trained  Leadership. 

(a)  Who — (Key  to  effective  work.) 

(6)  Methods  for  Training  (Fraternity  leader). 

1.  Spring  Class. 

2.  Conferences. 

3.  Normal  Group. 

11:30  a.m. — "Privileges  and  Opportunities  of  a  Group 
Leader. ' ' 

Saturday  Afternoon 

2:00  p.m. — Faculty    session    ( member   of   faculty 

presiding.) 

1.  "Bible    Study   a   Constructive   Force  in   College 

Life." 

2.  "Faculty  Cooperation  a  Factor  in  the  Growth  of 

Bible  Study." 

'Saturday  Evening 

7:30  p.m.— Session  for  Fraternity  Men. 

1.  "Significance   to  Fraternity  of  Having  a  Bible 

Study  Group  in  the  Chapter  House." 
Endorsements  by  several  colleges. 

2.  "College  Fraternity  Bible  Study  Movement.' ' 

167 


APPENDIX 

Sunday  Morning 

9 :30  a.m. — Session  for  Students. 

Bible  Study  Objectives. 

Sunday  Evening 
7:30  p.m. — Address. 

V — Bible-study  Policy  for  Men  of  Entire 
Community 

The  following  policy  was  adopted  in  a  con- 
ference attended  by  representatives  of  the 
County  Sunday-school  Association,  Ministe- 
rial Association,  Federated  Church  Brother- 
hoods, Sunday-school  Superintendents'  As- 
ciation,  and  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation at  Dayton,  Ohio. 

I.    The  Objective  shall  be: 

1.  To  stimulate  existing  classes. 

2.  To  organize  at  least  one  men's  class  in  every  Bible 

School  and  as  many  more  as  the  proper  classifi- 
cation of  the  constituency  of  the  church,  the  sup- 
ply of  competent  teachers  and  leaders,  and  the 
accommodations  will  warrant. 

3.  To  conduct  an  extension  work  to  reach  men  of  all 

classes  who  do  not  attend  regular  Bible  classes. 

4.  To  introduce    Bible    Study    into    the    meetings    of 

Brotherhoods  and  men's  clubs. 

168 


APPENDIX 

5.  To  secure  the  attendance  at  summer  training  con- 
ferences of  at  least  one  leader  from  every  church. 

II.    The  Methods  shall  be: 

1.  To  prepare    and    distribute    a    directory    of   men's 

Bible  classes. 

2.  To  prepare  a  directory  of  forces. 

3.  To  secure  a  corps  of  capable  men  to  assist  in  the 

organization  and  promotion  of  classes. 

4.  To  arrange  a  uniform  adult  Bible  Class  Rally  Day 

in  all  the  churches  in  October. 

5.  To  conduct  a  Bible  Study  Conference,  which  shall 

include  a  big  dinner,  during  the  week  preceding 
the  Rally. 

6.  To  invite  the  pastors  to  preach  on  Bible  Study  on 

the  Sunday  preceding  Rally  Day. 

7.  To  conduct  a  general  publicity  campaign  leading  up 

to  the  Conference  and  Rally  Day. 

8.  To  consider   carefully   the   question   of   Courses   of 

Study  for  Men's  Classes. 

9.  To  conduct  a  Training  School  for  teachers  and  lead- 

ers of  Men's  Bible  Classes. 

10.  The  following  shall  be  the  Course  of  Study  in  the 

Training  School. 

(a)  Methods — Under  the  direction  of  a  committee. 
To  consist  of  talks  and  conferences  on  methods 
and  practise  in  conducting  the  class. 

169 


APPENDIX 

(6)  Biblical  Introduction. 

To  be  a  combination  of  the  important  parts  of 
Biblical  Introduction,  pedagogy  and  psychol- 
ogy, 
(c)  Bible  Exposition. 

To  be  selections  illustrating  the  various  methods 
of  studying  and  teaching  the  different  parts  of 
the  Bible. 

III.    The  Division  of  Responsibility  shall  be: 

1.  That  the  Montgomery  County  Sunday  School  Asso- 

ciation shall  be  responsible  for  sections  one  and 
two  of  the  Objectives,  which  shall  be  done  in  co- 
operation with  the  local  Brotherhoods  and  the  Bible 
Study  Committee  of  Federated  Church  Brother- 
hoods and  section  three  of  the  Methods. 

2.  That  the  Federated  Church  Brotherhoods,  through  its 

Bible  Study  Committee,  shall  be  responsible  for 
sections  four  and  five  of  the  Objectives  and  that 
the  Committee  shall  cooperate  with  the  Montgom- 
ery County  Sunday  School  Association  in  the  work 
of  section  five. 

3.  That  the  Sunday  School  Superintendent's  Associa- 

tion shall  be  responsible  for  the  discovery  and  en- 
rolment of  men  in  the  Training  School. 

4.  That  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  shall 

be  responsible  for  section  three  of  the  Objectives 
and  sections  one,  two  and  eight  of  the  Methods, 
the  work  of  section  eight  to  be  done  by  a  repre- 
sentative committee. 

170 


APPENDIX 

5.  That  a  Men's  Bible  Study  Cabinet  consisting  of  two 

representatives  elected  by  each  of  the  five  organiza- 
tions represented  in  this  Conference,  shall  be  or- 
ganized and  be  responsible  for  initiative,  coordina- 
tion and  results  in  carrying  out  this  Policy,  and  for 
sections  four,  five,  six,  seven,  nine  and  ten  of  the 
Methods. 

6.  That  the  expenses  of  the  Men's  Bible  Study  Cabinet 

shall  be  borne  equally  by  the  five  organizations 
represented  in  this  conference  and  that  ten  dollars 
($10)  shall  be  paid  to  the  treasurer  of  the  Cabinet 
by  each  as  soon  as  the  Cabinet  is  organized. 

VI — Constitution  and  By-Laws  of  Large 
Organized  Classes  for  Men 

CONSTITUTION  OF  AN  ORGANIZED  BIBLE 
CLASS  IN  LYNN,  MASS. 

ARTICLE  I 

NAME 

This  class  shall  be  called 


ARTICLE  n. 


OBJECT 


Its  object  shall  be  to  promote  religious  instruction, 
and  to  improve  the  spiritual,  mental,  social  and  phys- 
ical condition  of  young  men. 

171 


APPENDIX 

ARTICLE  III 

OFFICERS  AND  COMMITTEES 

Section  1 — The  officers  of  the  class  shall  be  a  Pres- 
ident, Vice-President,  Recording  Secretary,  Correspond- 
ing Secretary,  Treasurer,  Teacher,  Chorister,  Organist, 
Assistant  Organist,  and  Librarian,  who  shall  be  elected 
by  ballot  at  the  annual  meeting. 

Sec.  2 — There  shall  also  be  the  following  committees, 
viz.: — Executive,  Membership,  Visiting,  Devotional,  So- 
cial, Entertainment,  Athletic  and  Employment;  and  the 
chairman  of  each  committee,  except  the  Executive  and 
Devotional,  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  at  the  annual 
meeting,  and  the  several  chairmen,  excepting  the  Ex- 
ecutive, shall  have  power  to  appoint  the  members  of 
their  respective  committees. 

ARTICLE  IV 

DUTIES  OF  OFFICERS  AND  COMMITTEES 

Section  1 — The  President  shall  preside  at  the  busi- 
ness meetings  of  the  class.  He  shall  appoint  all  com- 
mittees not  herein  provided  for,  and  shall  perform  the 
usual  duties  pertaining  to  his  office.  He  shall  also  be 
Chairman  of  the  Devotional  Committee. 

Sec.  2 — The  Vice-President  shall  be  chairman  of  the 
Executive  Committee,  and  shall  perform  the  duties  of 
the  President  during  his  absence. 

Sec.  3 — The  Recording  Secretary  shall  keep  a  record 
of  the  members,  of  their  attendance  and  of  all  the 
moneys  received  at  the  Sunday  collections.     He  shall 

172 


APPENDIX 

also  keep  accurate  minutes  in  a  book  provided  for  that 
purpose  of  all  business  meetings. 

Sec.  4 — The  Corresponding  Secretary  shall  attend  to 
all  newspaper  notices  and  printing,  and,  with  the  aid 
of  the  various  committees,  to  the  mailing  of  all  lit- 
erature. 

Sec.  5 — The  Treasurer  shall  receive  all  moneys  of  the 
Class  and  pay  out  the  same  as  directed  by  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee. 

Sec.  6 — The  Teacher  shall  be  the  spiritual  leader,  and 
as  such  shall  conduct  the  Bible  study  and  minister  to 
the  highest  moral  and  spiritual  interests  of  the  class. 

Sec.  7 — The  Chorister  shall  have  entire  charge  of  the 
music  of  the  class  and  shall,  with  the  aid  of  the  organ- 
ists, provide  a  musical  program  for  each  Sunday. 

Sec.  8 — The  Organist  and  Assistant  Organist  shall  be 
the  regular  accompanists  in  the  musical  work  of  the 
class,  and  shall  otherwise  cooperate  with  the  chorister. 

Sec.  9 — The  Librarian  shall  have  the  custody  of  all 
books  and  printed  matter  and  shall  see  that  the  same 
are  properly  distributed.  He  shall  also  appoint  such 
assistants  as  he  may  deem  necessary. 

Sec.  10 — The  Executive  Committee  shall  consist  of 
the  elective  officers  of  the  class,  and  the  chairmen  of 
the  various  committees,  seven  of  whom  shall  constitute 
a  quorum. 

The  duties  of  this  committee  shall  be  to  vote  upon  all 
applications  for  membership;  to  consider  all  matters 

173 


APPENDIX 

pertaining  to  class  interests  before  they  are  brought 
before  the  class,  to  audit  all  bills,  and  to  supervise  the 
general  expenses  of  the  class. 

Each  member  of  this  committee  shall  make,  in  wri- 
ting, at  the  quarterly  meetings,  a  detailed  report  of  his 
work. 

Sec.  11 — The  duties  of  the  Membership  Committee 
shall  be  to  maintain  and  increase  the  attendance  on 
Sunday  and  at  social  meetings,  of  young  men  eligible 
to  membership,  and  to  submit  to  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee all  properly  endorsed  applications. 

Sec.  12 — The  duties  of  the  Visiting  Committee  shall 
be  to  call  upon  the  new  members;  to  visit  any  mem- 
bers who  may  be  ill  or  delinquent  in  attendance;  and 
to  seek  to  maintain  and  better  the  spiritual  condition 
of  the  members  of  the  class. 

Sec.  13 — The  duties  of  the  Devotional  Committee 
shall  be  to  conduct  the  opening  exercises  of  the  Sunday 
services,  and  to  assist  the  Teacher  in  making  the  Sun- 
day sessions  as  attractive  and  helpful  as  possible. 

Sec.  14 — The  duties  of  the  Social  Committee  shall  be 
to  promote  the  social  interests  of  the  class;  to  provide 
suitable  refreshments  at  the  class  gatherings,  and  to 
have  general  charge  of  socials,  receptions  and  the  an- 
nual banquet. 

Sec.  15 — The  duties  of  the  Entertainment  Committee 
shall  be  to  provide  suitable  entertainments  of  an  in- 
tellectual, esthetic  or  social  nature  at  the  class  gather- 
ings, and  to  procure  speakers  for  the  annual  banquet. 

174 


APPENDIX 

Sec.  16 — The  duties  of  the  Athletic  Committee  shall 
be  to  attend  to  the  athletic  interests  of  the  class. 

Sec.  17 — The  duties  of  the  Employment  Committee 
shall  be  to  establish  and  maintain  an  employment  bu- 
reau; to  keep  a  list  of  members  desiring  employment 
and  positions  to  be  filled;  and  to  endeavor  in  every 
way  to  aid  members  in  need  of  situations. 

ARTICLE  V 

meetings 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  class  shall  be  held  on  the 
first  Thursday  of  April  at  8  p.m.  The  other  regular 
meetings  of  the  class  shall  be  held  on  the  first  Thurs- 
day of  the  months  of  July,  October,  and  January,  at 
8  p.m.,  or  at  such  other  times  as  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee shall  decide. 

Special  meetings  of  the  class  may  be  called  at  any 
time  by  the  President,  the  Executive  Committee,  or  on 
the  written  request  of  twenty  members  of  the  class,  due 
notice  of  which  meeting  shall  be  given  publicly  at  a 
Sunday  session  not  more  than  two  weeks  previous  to 
the  time  appointed  for  said  meetings. 

At  special  meetings  no  business  other  than  that  spec- 
ified in  the  call  shall  be  considered,  except  by  unani- 
mous consent. 

ARTICLE  VI 

QUORUM 

Twenty-five  members  shall  constitute  a  quorum  for 
the  transaction  of  business. 

175 


APPENDIX 

ARTICLE  VII 

MEMBERSHIP 

Any  young  man  of  sixteen  years  or  over,  upon  the 
recommendation  of  any  member  of  the  class  and  the 
approval  of  the  Executive  Committee,  may  become  a 
member  of  the  class  by  the  signing  of  the  constitution. 

ARTICLE  VIII 

AMENDMENTS 

This  Constitution  and  By-Laws  may  be  altered  by  a 
vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  present  at  a  regular 
or  special  business  meeting  of  the  class,  previous  notice, 
stating  proposed  amendment,  having  been  given  in  wri- 
ting at  least  two  weeks  in  advance. 

BY-LAWS 

The  Executive  Committee  shall  hold  a  meeting  at 
least  once  a  quarter,  and  oftener  if  the  interest  of  the 
class  demands. 

The  funds  of  the  class  shall  be  raised  by  voluntary 
contributions,  and  no  contributions  shall  be  solicited  at 
any  of  the  social  meetings. 

CONSTITUTION  OF  A  BIBLE  CLASS  IN  NEW 
YORK  CITY 
ARTICLE  I 

NAME 

The  name  of  this  organization  shall  be 

176 


APPENDIX 

ARTICLE  II 

OBJECT 

The  object  of  this  organization  shall  be  to  promote 
Christian  manhood. 

ARTICLE  III 

MEMBERSHIP 

1.  There  shall  be  three  classes  of  members,  Active, 
Associate  and  Honorary. 

2.  The  Active  membership  shall  be  composed  of  men 
between  the  ages  of  18  and  45  years.  But  no  one  shall 
cease  to  be  an  Active  member  because  he  has  passed 
the  age  of  45;  nor  shall  this  age  limit  apply  to  the 
present  Active  members  of  the  Class. 

3.  The  Associate  membership  shall  be  composed  of 
men  beyond  the  age  of  45  who  desire  to  attend  the  Sun- 
day morning  sessions  of  the  Class 

4.  Active  and  Associate  members  shall  be  elected  by 
the  Committee  on  Admission. 

5.  The  Honorary  membership  shall  be  composed  of 
those  men  who  have  addrest  the  Class  or  rendered  it 
some  other  conspicuous  service.  Honorary  members 
shall  be  elected  by  a  majority  of  the  members  present 
at  any  regular  meeting. 

6.  Only  Active  members  shall  be  eligible  to  vote  and 
hold  office. 

ARTICLE  IV 

OFFICERS  AND  COMMITTEES 

1.     The  Officers  of  this  Class  shall  be  a  President,  a 
177 


APPENDIX 

Vice-President,   two   Recording   Secretaries,   a   Corre- 
sponding Secretary,  a  Treasurer,  and  a  Leader. 

2.  There  shall  be  the  following  Standing  Commit- 
tees: 

Executive,  Entertainment, 

Membership,  Cooperation, 

Admission,  Music, 

Attendance,  Refreshment, 

Visiting,  House. 

3.  The  Officers,  (with  the  exception  of  the  leader), 
and  the  Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committees,  shall  be 
elected  by  ballot  at  the  annual  meeting,  and  shall  hold 
office  for  one  year  from  the  first  day  of  May  following. 
A  plurality  vote  shall  elect. 

4.  The  Leader  shall  be  chosen  by  the  Executive 
Committee  at  its  first  meeting  in  May  and  shall  hold 
office  for  one  year,  or  until  his  successor  is  chosen. 

5.  Any  office  of  the  Class  may  be  declared  vacant, 
by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  Executive  Committee  at  any 
regular  or  special  meeting. 

6.  Vacancies  in  office  occurring  during  the  year 
shall  be  filled  by  the  Executive  Committee,  and  Officers 
thus  appointed  shall  hold  office  until  the  next  annual 
election  of  the  Class. 

ARTICLE  V 

DUTIES  OF  OFFICERS 

1.  The  President  shall  preside  at  the  regular  and 
special  business  meetings  of  the  Class  and  shall  per- 

178 


APPENDIX 

form  the  usual  duties  pertaining  to  such  offiee.  He 
shall  also  be  the  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee 
and  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Admission,  and 
a  member  of  all  Standing  Committees,  ex  officio. 

2.  The  Vice-President  shall  perform  the  duties  of 
the  President  in  his  absence. 

3.  The  First  Recording  Secretary  shall  keep  the 
minutes  of  the  business  meetings  of  the  Class  and  a 
record  of  all  such  matters  as  the  Executive  Committee 
may  deem  advisable. 

4.  The  Second  Recording  Secretary  shall  keep  the 
roll  of  the  Class,  notify  the  Active  and  Associate  mem- 
bers of  their  election,  and  notify  the  Visiting  Commit- 
tee each  week  of  the  sick  and  absent  Active  members. 
He  shall  also  send  out  to  the  Active  members  notices 
of  Class  affairs  as  directed  by  the  Executive  Committee, 
and  shall  perform  such  other  duties  as  the  Executive 
Committee  shall  direct. 

5.  The  Corresponding  Secretary  shall  conduct  the 
correspondence  of  the  Class,  notify  Officers  and  Honor- 
ary members  of  election,  prepare  a  report  of  the  work 
of  the  Class  every  four  months,  and  perform  such  other 
duties  as  the  Executive  Committee  shall  direct. 

6.  The  Treasurer  shall  receive  all  moneys  belonging 
to  the  Class,  and  shall  hold,  deposit  and  pay  out  the 
same  as  directed  by  the  Executive  Committee.  He  shall 
make  a  full  report  of  the  receipts  and  disbursements  of 
the  Class  every  four  months  to  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee. 

179 


APPENDIX 

ARTICLE  VI 

DUTIES  OF  COMMITTEES 

1.  (a)  The  Executive  Committee  shall  consist  of  the 
Officers  of  the  Class,  the  Chairman  of  the  other  Stand- 
ing Committees,  the  Pastor  of  the  Church,  and  the 
Leader  of  the  Class.  The  President  of  the  Class  shall 
be  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee,  ex  officio. 

(b)  The  Executive  Committee  shall  be  vested  with 
the  management  of  the  Class,  including  the  appoint- 
ment of  all  committees  not  otherwise  provided  for,  the 
regulation  of  expenditures  and  the  determination  of  the 
policy  of  the  Class. 

(c)  The  Executive  Committee  shall  hold  regular 
monthly  meetings  and  special  meetings  at  the  call  of 
the  Chairman. 

(d)  One  month  before  the  annual  meeting,  the 
Executive  Committee  shall  appoint  a  Nominating  Com- 
mittee to  nominate  the  Officers  of  the  Class  and  chair- 
men of  the  Standing  Committees  for  the  ensuing  year. 

2.  The  Membership  Committee  shall  consist  of  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-five  members.  The  duties  of  this 
Committee  shall  be  to  welcome  strangers  at  the  Sunday 
morning  sessions  of  the  Class,  introduce  them  to  the 
members  of  the  Class,  call  upon  them  and  cultivate 
their  friendship,  being  responsible  for  the  strangers  for 
one  to  four  weeks  as  may  be  required  in  order  to  make 
them  feel  at  home  and  desirous  of  remaining  in  the 
Class,  finally  in  their  discretion  recommending  them  for 
membership  in  the  Class  and  the  Club.    The  members 

180 


APPENDIX 

of  this  Committee  shall  secure  from  strangers  such  data 
as  may  be  deemed  desirable,  filing  the  same  with  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee,  who  shall  direct  the  work 
of  the  Committee. 

3.  The  Committee  on  Admission  shall  consist  of  the 
President,  the  Chairman  of  the  Attendance  Committee 
and  the  Chairman  of  the  Membership  Committee.  The 
duty  of  this  Committee  shall  be  to  pass  upon  and  in 
their  discretion  elect  to  either  Active  or  Associate 
membership  those  men  whose  names  are  presented  to 
them  as  candidates. 

4.  The  Attendance  Committee  shall  consist  of  five 
members,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  act  as  Ushers  at  the 
Sunday  morning  sessions  of  the  Class,  greet  strangers 
as  they  enter  the  Class,  and  secure  their  names  and  ad- 
dresses, which  shall  be  turned  over  to  the  Chairman  of 
the  Membership  Committee. 

5.  The  Visiting  Committee  shall  consist  of  five  mem- 
bers, whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  visit  the  sick  and  the 
absent  members  as  they  may  be  notified  of  such  cases 
by  the  Second  Recording  Secretary. 

6.  The  Entertainment  Committee  shall  consist  of 
seven  members,  and  shall  have  charge  of  all  socials  and 
entertainments  of  the  Class. 

7.  The  Committee  on  Cooperation  shall  consist  of 
five  members.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  this  Committee 
to  keep  in  touch  with  the  various  activities  of  the 
Church  and  such  other  activities  as  may  seem  expedi- 
ent, with  a  view  to  supplying  men  from  the  Class  as 
workers  wherever  they  may  be  required. 

181 


APPENDIX 

8.  The  Music  Committee  shall  consist  of  three  mem- 
bers, whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  provide  music  and  a 
Precentor  for  the  Sunday  morning  meetings  of  the 
Class,  and  also  to  provide  music  for  other  meetings  of 
the  Class  when  requested. 

9.  The  Refreshment  Committee  shall  consist  of  three 
members,  and  shall  have  charge  of  the  refreshments 
served  at  any  teas  or  other  social  meetings  of  the  Class. 

10.  The  House  Committee  shall  consist  of  five  mem- 
bers. It  shall  have  the  care  of  the  meeting  room  and 
of  all  Class  property. 

11.  The  Nominating  Committee  shall  consist  of  five 
members,  including  the  Leader  of  the  Class,  and  shall 
be  appointed  by  the  Executive  Committee  one  month 
before  the  annual  meeting.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
Nominating  Committee  two  weeks  before  the  annual 
election  to  present  to  the  Class  a  list  of  Candidates  for 
the  elective  offices  and  chairmanships  of  the  Class,  sug- 
gesting two  names  for  each  position.  Upon  the  request 
of  twenty-five  members  of  the  Class  the  name  of  a 
third  candidate  for  any  office  may  be  added. 

12.  The  Leader  of  the  Class  shall  be  a  member  of 
the  Executive  and  Nominating  Committees,  ex  officio. 

ARTICLE  VII 

MEETINGS 

1.  The  annual  meeting  of  the  Class  shall  be  held 
early  in  April. 

2.  Other  business  meetings  of  the  Class  may  be  held 

182 


APPENDIX 

at  such  times  and  places  as  the  Executive  Committee 
shall  decide. 

3.  A  special  meeting  of  the  Class  may  be  called  at 
any  time  by  the  President,  three  members  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee,  or  on  the  written  request  of  twenty- 
five  members  of  the  Class,  due  notice  of  which  shall  be 
given  publicly  at  a  Sunday  session  not  less  than  one 
week  before  said  meeting. 

ARTICLE  Vin 

QUORUMS 

1.  Twenty-five  Active  members  of  the  Class  shall 
constitute  a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  business. 

2.  Five  members  of  the  Executive  Committee  shall 
constitute  a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  business. 

ARTICLE  IX 

AMENDMENTS 

This  Constitution  may  be  altered  by  a  vote  of  two- 
thirds  of  the  Active  members  present  at  a  regular  or 
special  business  meeting  of  the  Class,  previous  notice 
stating  the  proposed  amendment  having  been  given  two 
weeks  before  the  meeting. 

BY-LAWS  OF  A  BIBLE  CLASS  IN  ROCHESTER, 

NEW  YORK 

Article  I— Name 

This  class  shall  be  called  the 

183 


APPENDIX 

Article  II — Object 
Its  object  shall  be  to  promote  religious  instruction, 
and  to  improve  the  spiritual,  mental,  social,  and  phys- 
ical condition  of  young  men. 

Article  III— Motto 
Pro  Christo. 

Article  IV — Officers  and  Committees 
Section  1. — The  officers  of  this  class  shall  consist  of  a 
President,  Corresponding  Secretary, 

Vice-president,  Treasurer, 

Recording  Secretary,     Librarian, 
Assistant  Librarian. 
Sec.  2 — The  officers  of  this  class  shall  be  elected  at 
the  annual  meeting. 

Sec.  3 — There  shall  be  the  following  committees,  viz. : 
Executive,  Athletic, 

Visiting,  Employment, 

Attendance,  Devotional, 

Social,  Music. 

Sec.  4 — The  chairmen  of  each  committee,  except  the 
Executive,  shall  be  elected  at  the  annual  meeting. 

Sec.  5 — The  elective  officers  of  this  class  shall  be 
elected  by  ballot,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number 
of  votes  cast  shall  be  necessary  for  a  choice. 

Sec.  6 — The  elective  officers  of  this  class  shall  be 
elected  at  the  annual  meeting  and  shall  hold  their  re- 
spective offices  for  the  term  of  one  year  next  succeed- 
ing their  election,  or  until  such  a  time  as  their  suc- 
cessors are  elected. 

184 


APPENDIX 

Sec.  7 — Any  office  of  this  class  may  be  declared  va- 
cant by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  members  present  at 
any  regular  or  special  meeting  of  the  class. 

Article  V — Duties  of  Officers  and  Committees 

Section  1 — The  president  shall  preside  at  the  reg- 
ular and  special  business  meetings  of  the  class.  He 
shall  appoint  all  committees  not  herein  provided  for, 
and  shall  also  perform  the  usual  duties  pertaining  to 
such  an  officer. 

Sec.  2 — The  vice-president  shall  perform  the  duties 
of  the  president  during  his  absence. 

Sec.  3 — The  recording  secretary  shall  keep  a  record 
of  the  members,  of  their  attendance,  and  of  all  the 
moneys  received  at  the  Sunday  collections.  He  shall 
also  keep  accurate  minutes,  in  a  book  provided  for  that 
purpose,  of  all  business  transacted  by  the  class,  and  the 
executive  committee. 

Sec.  4 — The  corresponding  secretary  shall  attend  to 
the  placing  of  notices  in  newspapers  and  periodicals, 
answer  all  correspondence,  and  attend  to  the  printing 
and  mailing  of  all  notices  of  meetings  of  the  class. 

Sec.  5 — The  treasurer  shall  receive  all  moneys  be- 
longing to  the  class;  shall  hold,  deposit  and  pay  out 
the  same,  as  directed  by  the  executive  committee.  He 
shall  make  a  full  report  of  the  receipts  and  disburse- 
ments of  the  class  at  each  annual  meeting. 

Sec.  6 — The  librarian  shall  have  the  care  and  cus- 
tody of  all  books  and  printed  matter,  and  shall  see 
that  the  same  are  properly  distributed. 

Sec.  7 — The  assistant  librarian  shall  perform  the 
185 


APPENDIX 

duties  of  the  librarian  during  his  absence,  and  shall 
assist  him  in  performing  his  duties. 

Sec.  8 — The  executive  committee  shall  consist  of  the 
elective  officers  of  the  class,  and  the  chairmen  of  the 
various  standing  committees.  The  executive  committee 
shall  consider  all  matters  pertaining  to  class  interests 
before  being  brought  before  the  class;  audit  all  bills 
and  supervise  the  general  expenses  of  the  class; 
make  such  expenditures  as  shall  be  necessary  for  the 
welfare  of  the  class;  and  shall  have  power  to  fill  any 
vacancies  occurring  in  office. 

Sec.  9 — The  attendance  committee  shall  consist  of 
fifteen  members.  The  duties  of  this  committee  shall  be 
to  maintain  and  increase  the  attendance  of  the  members 
of  the  class  at  all  of  its  sessions. 

Sec.  10 — The  visiting  committee  shall  consist  of  three 
members.  The  duties  of  this  committee  shall  be  to  call 
upon  the  new  members;  to  visit  any  members  who  may 
be  ill  or  delinquent  in  attendance;  and  to  seek  to  main- 
tain and  better  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  members 
of  the  class. 

Sec.  11 — The  social  committee  shall  consist  of  fifteen 
members.  The  duties  of  this  committee  shall  be  to 
promote  the  social  interests  of  the  class ;  to  have  charge 
of  all  social  gatherings,  receptions,  etc.,  also  to  provide 
suitable  entertainment,  etc. 

Sec.  12 — The  employment  committee  shall  consist  of 
three  members.  The  duties  of  this  committee  shall  be 
to  establish  and  maintain  an  employment  bureau;  to 
keep  a  list  of  members  desiring  employment,  and  po- 

186 


APPENDIX 

sitions  to  be  filled;  and  shall  endeavor  in  every  way  to 
aid  members  in  need  of  situations. 

Sec.  13 — The  devotional  committee  shall  consist  of 
five  members.  The  duties  of  this  committee  shall  be  to 
conduct  the  opening  exercises  of  the  Sunday  services, 
and  to  assist  the  teacher  in  making  the  Sunday  services 
as  attractive  and  helpful  as  possible. 

Sec.  14 — The  music  committee  shall  consist  of  three 
members.  The  duties  of  this  committee  shall  be  to  fur- 
nish suitable  music  at  all  of  the  Sunday  sessions  of 
the  class. 

Sec.  15 — The  athletic  committee  shall  consist  of  three 
members.  The  duties  of  this  committee  shall  be  to  at- 
tend to  the  athletic  interests  of  the  class. 

Sec.  16 — The  chairmen  of  the  various  committees, 
except  the  executive,  shall  have  power  to  appoint  the 
additional  members  of  their  respective  committees. 

Sec.  17 — The  teacher  of  this  class  shall  be  a  member 
of  all  committees  ex  officio. 

Sec.  18 — At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  class,  and 
oftener  if  required,  the  elected  officers  shall  furnish  the 
class  with  a  complete  report  of  the  business  transacted 
in  their  respective  offices,  and  shall  deUver  to  their 
successors  in  office  all  papers,  books,  records,  moneys, 
and  other  properties  belonging  to  the  class  within  ten 
days  after  the  expiration  of  their  terms  of  office. 

Article  VI — Meetings 

Section  1 — The  annual  meeting  of  this  class  shall  be 
held  on  the  last  Thursday  in  the  month  of  January. 
187 


APPENDIX 

Sec.  2 — The  other  regular  business  meetings  of  the 
class  shall  be  held  quarterly,  or  at  such  times  and  places 
as  the  executive  committee  shall  decide. 

Sec.  3 — Special  meetings  of  this  class  may  be  called 
at  any  time  by  the  president,  the  executive  committee, 
or  on  the  written  request  of  twenty  members  of  the 
class;  due  notice  of  which  meeting  shall  be  given  pub- 
licly at  a  Sunday  session  not  more  than  two  weeks 
previous  to  the  time  appointed  for  said  meetings. 

Sec.  4 — At  special  meetings  no  business  other  than 
that  specified  in  the  call  shall  be  considered,  except  by 
unanimous  consent  of  those  present  at  such  meeting. 

Article  VII — Quorums 

Section  1 — Twenty-five  members  of  the  class  shall 
constitute  a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  business. 

Sec.  2 — Five  members  of  the  executive  committee 
shall  constitute  a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  busi- 


Article  VIII — Membership 

Section  1 — Any  male  of  the  age  of  sixteen,  or  over, 
may  become  a  member  of  the  class  by  signing  a  mem- 
bership card. 

Sec.  2 — Any  member  of  the  class  who  has  not  been 
in  attendance  at  any  of  the  sessions  of  the  class  within 
a  period  of  four  months,  may  be  dropt  from  the  mem- 
bership of  the  class  on  vote  of  the  attendance  com- 
mittee. 

188 


APPENDIX 

Article  IX — Contributions 
The  funds  of  the  class  shall  be  raised  by  voluntary 
contributions;  and  no  contributions  shall  be  solicited 
at  any  social  meetings. 

Article  X' — Amendments 
These  by-laws  may  be  altered  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds 
of  the  members  present  at  a  regular  or  special  business 
meeting  of  the  class,  previous  notice,  stating  proposed 
amendment,  having  been  given  in  writing  at  least  two 
weeks  in  advance. 


180 


APPENDIX 

BIBLE-STUDY  COUESES  AND  REFER- 
ENCE  LITERATURE 
NEW  BIBLE  STUDIES 
The  Message  op  the  Bible  to  Modern  Life 
Six  series  of  studies,  thirty  lessons  each,  covering  the 
entire  Bible  from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  arranged  for 
both  weekly  and  daily  study,  with  special  application  of 
the  Bible  to  modern  social,  economic,  political,  and  relig- 
ious problems.   Authors  collaborating :  Professor  Charles 
Foster  Kent  of  Yale  University,  Dean  Edward  Increase 
Bosworth  of  Oberlin  Theological  Seminary,  Professor 
Jeremiah  W.  Jenks  of  Cornell  University,  and  Clayton 
Sedgwick  Cooper  of  The  International  Committee  of 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  New  York  City. 
The  first  thirty  studies  in  the  Old  Testament  beginning 
with  Genesis,  and  entitled  "The  Making  of  a  Nation," 
and  the  first  thirty  studies  in  the  New  Testament  upon 
"Jesus*  Life   and   Teachings,"   will  be   ready   about 
October  1st,  1911. 

OLD  TESTAMENT 

Introduction  and  History 

Biblical  Introduction.    Bennet  and  Adeney  (new  edition 

announced). 
The  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament.    Driver. 
A  Short  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Bible. 

Moulton. 
Introduction  to  the  Old  Testament.    McFadyen. 
Old  Testament  History.    Wade. 
The  Bible  as  English  Literature.    Gardiner. 
190 


APPENDIX 

Prophets 

Old  Testament  Prophecy.    Davidson. 

Book  of  the  Twelve  Prophets.    Smith  (2  vols.) 

Prophets  of  Israel.    Cornill. 

Messages  of  the  Earlier  Prophets.    Sanders  and  Kent. 

The  Minor  Prophets.    Eiselen. 

Doctrine  of  the  Prophets.    Kirkpatrick. 

Religion  of  Babylon  and  Assyria.    Rogers 
(especially  in  its  relations  to  Israel). 

The  Great  Teachers  of  Judaism  and  Christianity.  Kent. 

Prophecy  and  the  Prophets  in  Their  Historical  Rela- 
tions.   Eiselen. 

The  Minor  Prophets.  Farrar.   (Men  of  the  Bible  Series.) 

Psalms  and  Wisdom  Literature 

The  Messages  of  the  Psalmists.    McFadyen. 

The  Psalms  in  Human  Life.     Prothero.     (Everyman's 

Library.) 
The  Epic  of  the  Inner  Life.    Genung. 
The  Hebrew  Literature  of  Wisdom.    Genung. 

NEW  TESTAMENT 
Introduction 

A  Critical  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament.    Peake. 

Introduction  to  the  New  Testament.    Dods. 

A  Short  Introduction  to  the  Gospels.    Burton. 

Introduction  to  New  Testament.    Bacon. 

The  Study  of  the  Gospels.    Robinson. 

Introduction  to  the  New  Testament.    Zahn.     (3  vols.) 

191 


APPENDIX 

History  of  New  Testament  Times  in  Palestine.  Math- 
ews. 

In  the  Time  of  Christ;  Sketches  of  Jewish  Social  Life. 
Edersheim. 

Introduction  to  Literature  of  the  New  Testament.  Mof- 
fatt. 

Theology  of  the  New  Testament.    Stevens. 

LIFE  OF  CHRIST 

Life  of  Christ.    Stalker. 

The  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus.    Edersheim. 

The  Student  Life  of  Jesus.    Gilbert. 

Life  of  Christ.    Farrar. 

The  Life  of  Jesus.    Holtzmann. 

The  Man  Christ  Jesus.    Speer. 

In  the  Days  of  His  Flesh.    Smith. 

Outlines  of  the  Life  of  Christ.    Sanday. 

The  Ethics  of  Jesus.    King. 

The  Character  of  Jesus.    Bushnell. 

The  Kingdom  of  God.    Bruce. 

Jesus  and  the  Gospel.    Denney. 

The  Principles  of  Jesus.    Speer. 

The  Life  of  Christ.    Dawson. 

The  Life  of  the  Master.    Watson. 

Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character.    Peabody. 

Earliest  Sources  of  the  Life  of  Jesus.    Burkett. 

The  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Christ.    Schurer. 

(5  vols.) 
A  History  of  the  Jewish  People.  Maccabean  and  Roman 

Periods.    Riggs. 

192 


APPENDIX 

The  Life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.    Rhees. 
Studies  in  the  Life  of  Christ.    Fairbairn. 
Why  Four  Gospels.    Gregory. 

THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Life  of  St.  Paul.    Stalker. 

Paul  the  All-round  Man.    Speer. 

The  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.     Conybeare  and 

Howson. 
St.  Paul,  the  Traveler  and  the  Roman  Citizen.    Ramsay. 
The  Cities  of  Paul.    Ramsay. 
Neglected  Factors  in  the  Study  of  the  Early  Progress 

of  Christianity.    Orr. 
St.  Paul.    Iverach. 
Life  and  Works  of  St.  Paul.    Farrar. 
St.  Paul's  Conception  of  Christianity.    Bruce. 
Pauline  Theology.    Stevens. 
Apostolic  Church.    Thatcher. 
Apostolic  Church.    Bartlet. 
The  Apostolic  Age.    Purves. 


COMMENTARIES 

The  One  Volume  Bible  Commentary.     Dummelow. 
Cambridge  Bible  Series.     (49  vols.) 
Expositor's  Bible  Series.    (49  vols.) 
The  New  Century  Bible.     (23  vols.) 
Modern  Reader's  Bible.    (22  vols.) 
193 


APPENDIX 

The  Bible  for  Home  and  School.    Edited  by  Mathews. 

The  Churchman's  Bible. 

The  Westminster  New  Testament. 

Commentaries  on  the  Old  Testament : 

Genesis  (Westminster  Series).    Driver. 

Genesis  (International  Critical  Com.).    Skinner. 

Exodus  (Westminster  Series).    McNeile. 

Numbers  (International  Critical  Com.).    Gray. 

Deuteronomy  (International  Critical  Com.).  Driver. 

Judges  (International  Critical  Com.).    Moore. 

Samuel  (International  Critical  Com.).     Smith. 

Kings  (Cambridge  Bible).    Lumby. 

Kings  (Cambridge  Bible).    Barnes. 

Chronicles  (Cambridge  Bible).    Barnes. 

Chronicles  (International  Critical  Com.).    Curtis. 

Ezra  and  Nehemiah  (Cambridge  Bible).    Ryle. 

Esther  (International  Critical  Com.).    Paton. 

Job  (New  Century  Bible).    Peake. 

Job    (International  Critical   Com.).     Driver.     (In 
preparation.) 

Psalms  (Cambridge  Bible).    Kirkpatrick. 

Psalms  (New  Century  Bible).    Davison.    (2  vols.) 

Proverbs  (International  Critical  Com.).    Toy. 

Ecclesiastes  (International  Critical  Com.).    Barton, 

Ecclesiastes   (Cambridge  Bible).     Plumptre. 

Song  of  Solomon  (Cambridge  Bible).    Harper. 

Isaiah  (Cambridge  Bible).     Skinner.     (2  vols.) 

Ezekiel  (Cambridge  Bible).    Davidson. 

Daniel  (Cambridge  Bible).    Driver. 

Minor  Prophets  (Whedon  Series).    Eiselen. 
194 


APPENDIX 

Commentaries  on  the  Old  Testament — Continued: 
Joel  and  Amos  (Cambridge  Bible).     Driver. 
Nahum,  Habakkuk,  Zephaniah,  Haggai,  Zechariah, 

Malachi  (New  Century).    Driver. 
Nahum,  Habakkuk,  Zephaniah  (Cambridge  Bible). 

Davidson. 

Commentaries  on  New  Testament: 
Matthew.    Allen. 
Matthew.    Plummer. 
Mark.    Swete. 
Mark.    Gould. 
Mark.    Bruce. 

The  Earliest  Gospel  (Mark).    Mengies. 
Luke.    Plummer. 
John.    Godet.    (3  vols.) 
John.    Westcott. 

John.  Dods.    (Expositor's  Greek  Testament.   Vol.  I) 
Acts.    Rackham. 
Acts.     Knowling.     (Expositor's  Greek  Testament. 

Vol.  II) 
Romans.    Sanday. 
Romans.    Williams. 
Romans.     Denney.     (Expositor's  Greek  Testament. 

Vol.  II) 
Galatians.    Lightfoot. 
Ephesians  and  Colossians.    Abbott. 
Philippians.    Vincent. 
Philippians.    Lightfoot. 
Colossians  and  Philemon.    Lightfoot. 

195 


APPENDIX 

THE  SOCIAL  GOSPEL 

The  Church  and  the  Changing  Order.    Mathews. 
The  Church  and  the  Social  Problem.    Plantz. 
The  Gospel  and  the  Modern  Man.    Mathews. 
Christianity  and  Social  Questions.    Cunningham. 
Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis.    Rauschenbush. 
Social  Duties  from  the  Christian  Point  of  View.    Hen- 
derson. 
N  Messianic  Hope  in  the  New  Testament.    Mathews. 
Ecce  Homo.    Seeley. 
The  Next  Great  Awakening.    Strong. 
Social  Teachings  of  Jesus.    Mathews. 
Teaching  of  Jesus.    Stevens. 
Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question.    Peabody. 
The  Approach  to  the  Social  Question.    Peabody. 
Social  Law  in  the  Spiritual  World.    Jones. 

DEVOTIONAL  BOOKS 

Devotional  Use  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.    Gibson. 
The  Still  Hour.    Phelps. 

Thoughts  for  Every-Day  Living.    Babcock. 
Decision  of  Character.    Foster. 
Leaves  for  Quiet  Hours.    Matheson. 
Times  of  Retirement.    Matheson. 
Moments  on  the  Mount.    Matheson. 
Rests  by  the  River.    Matheson. 
Drummond's  Addresses. 
Imitation  of  Christ,    a  Kempis. 

196 


APPENDIX 

Imago  Christi.    Stalker. 

With  Christ  in  the  School  of  Prayer.    Murray. 

Abide  in  Christ.    Murray. 

Prayer:   Its  Nature  and  Scope.    Trumbull. 

The  Master  of  the  Heart.    Speer. 

The  Evangelistic  Note.    Dawson. 

A  Call  for  Character.    Bosworth. 

The  Secret  Prayer  Life.    Mott. 

Secret  Prayer  a  Great  Reality.    Wright.. 

TEACHING  OF  BIBLE  CLASSES 

The  Teacher's  Philosophy  in  and  out  of  School.    Hyde. 

How  to  Teach  the  Bible.    Gregory. 

Teaching  and  Teachers.    Trumbull. 

Talks  to  Teachers.    James. 

College  Men  and  the  Bible.    Cooper. 

Primer  on  Teaching.    Adams. 

The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching.    Gregory. 

The  Teaching  of  Bible  Classes.    See. 

How  to  Read  the  Bible.    Smith. 

How  to  Study  the  Bible.    Torrey. 

Hints  on  Bible  Study.    Atkins. 

The  Bible  Hand-Book.    Angus. 

Literary  Study  of  the  Bible.     Moulton. 

How  We  Think.    Dewey. 

The  Pedagogical  Bible  School.    Haslett. 

How  to  Study.    McMurry. 

The  Bible  a  Missionary  Book.    Horton. 

Starting  to  Teach.    Foster. 

197 


APPENDIX 

How  to  Make  the  Bible  Real.    King. 
Effective  Leadership  in  Bible  Classes. 
The  Making  of  a  Teacher.    Brumbaugh. 
Training  of  the  Twelve.    Bruce. 
Point  of  Contact  in  Teaching.    DuBois. 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  PROBLEMS. 

The  Fact  of  Christ.    Simpson. 

Rational  Living.    King. 

Studies  in  Christianity.    Bowne. 

The  Essence  of  Religion.    Bowne. 

Life  Problems. 

The  Field  of  Ethics.    Palmer. 

Religious  Certainty.    McConnell. 

Sixty  Years  with  the  Bible.    Clarke. 

How  to  Deal  with  Temptation.    Speer. 

Things  Fundamental.    Jefferson. 

My  Belief.    Horton. 

Christian  Evidences  and  Ethics.    Schenck. 

Beyond  the  Natural  Order.    Best. 

Universal  Elements  of  the  Christian  Religion.    Hall. 

The  Gospel  for  a  World  of  Sin.    Van  Dyke. 

The  Natural  Law  in  the  Spiritual  World.    Drummond. 

Nature  and  the  Supernatural.    Bushnell. 

Varieties  of  Religious  Experience.    James. 

Twice  Born  Men.    Begbie. 

Souls  in  Action.    Begbie. 

The  Spiritual  Life.    Coe. 

198 


APPENDIX 

The  Divinity  of  Our  Lord.    Liddon. 

The  Right  to  Believe.    Rowland. 

The  True  Doctrine  of  Prayer.    Chamberlain. 

The  Lord  of  Glory.    Warfield. 

The  Divine  Reason  of  the  Cross.    Mabie. 

The  World  a  Spiritual  System.    Snowden. 

The  Philosophy  of  the  Fourth  Gospel.    Johnston. 

To  Christ  Through  Criticism.     Seaver. 

The  Main  Points.    Brown. 
—  The  Substance  of  Faith.    Lodge. 
e  The  Gospel  for  an  Age  of  Doubt.    Van  Dyke. 
^  What  Is  Christianity?    Harnack. 

The  Seeming  Unreality  of  the  Spiritual  Life.    King. 

Personal  and  Ideal  Elements  in  Education.    King. 

The  Gospel  and  the  Modern  Man.    Mathews. 

The  Church  and  Modern  Life.    Gladden. 


199 


INDEX 


201 


INDEX 


American  Bible  Society,  the,  5. 
Athletic  Committee,  the,  113. 
Atmosphere  of  the  class,  the,  78. 

Baraca   Movement,   the,    3. 
Bible,  The,  and  life  work,  9. 

and  modern  problems,   148. 

and  religion,  18. 

as  a  means  of  evangelism,  88. 

assists  in  character  forming, 
15. 

at  the  heart  of  modern  reform, 
140. 

center,  98. 

Church   and,   12. 

Church  needs  able  men  to 
teach,    13. 

Church's  opportunity  to  popu- 
larize, 14. 

class,  large,  How  to  form, 
105. 

class,  large,  as  a  rival  to  the 
Church  and  Sunday-school, 
96. 

Classes  in  study  of,  3,  4. 

classes  in  rural  communities, 
156. 

classes,  large  organized,  93. 

classes,  large  organized,  con- 
stitution and  by-laws  for, 
171. 

College    men    studying,    3. 

Evangelism  through,  in  the 
Orient,   48. 

first   book   upon   ethics,    15. 

gives  added  force  to  the  will, 
17. 


Bible,  The. 

Heathen  world  studying,   13. 

as  helps  to  men  in  moral 
battles,  16. 

How    to    study,    121. 

Human   interest   in,   xiii. 

Institute  for  study  of,   161. 

institute,    Subjects   in,    24. 

institutes  as  conducted  by  stu- 
dents,  23-25. 

Interest  in,  signs  of  awaken- 
ing in  the  Orient,  43. 

Knowledge  of,  clarifies  the 
vision,  10. 

Knowledge  of,  wanting,  12. 

Lectures  on,  A  series  of,   69. 

Literature  of,  and  Bible 
habits,  125. 

Literature  of,  and  teachers  in 
the  Orient,  47. 

Mastery  of,  necessary  to  the 
missionary,  12. 

Men  eager  to  study,  100. 

most  popular  of  books,  3. 

Output  of  the,  in  1910,  4,  5. 

peculiarly  personal.  15. 

Reference  books  for  study  of, 
128. 

secretaries,    National,    46. 

Social   gospel   of,    139. 

students,  Influences  of,  in  the 

Orient,   51. 

Study  of,   xi-xv. 

Study  of,  among  men  in  the 
Orient,  43. 

Study  of,  among  students  of 
all  races,  47. 


203 


INDEX 


Bible,  The. 

Study  of,  and  missions,  145. 

Study  of,  and  youth  in  the 
Sunday-schools,   151. 

Study  of,  a  suggestive  basis 
for  vocation,  9,   10. 

study  class,  Growth  of,  in  the 
University  of  Illinois,  62. 

study  class  in  Brooklyn,  64. 

study  class  in  New  England, 
Growth  of,   61. 

study  class,  how  organized, 
66-68. 

study    conference    at    Cornell 

University,  166. 

Cooperation  the  next  step  in, 
31. 

Study  corrects  individual  stan- 
dards, 11. 

Study  courses  in,  and  litera- 
ture of,  121. 

study  courses,  Reference  liter- 
ature  for,    190. 

study  courses,  A  selection  of, 
121. 

study,  Enlisting  college  gradu- 
ates in  church,  33. 

Study,  a  bridge  between  the 
dream  and  fulfilment,  59. 

study,  Neglect  of,  12. 

Study  of,   growing  power,   19. 

Study  of,  The  habit  of,  11. 

Study  of,   in  China,      44,   47. 

Study  of,  in  colleges,  23. 

Study  of,  in  India,  45,  48. 

Study  of,  in  Japan,  43. 

Study    of,    in    Korea,    44,    47. 

Study  of,  in  small  classes,  75. 

Study  of,  in  Sunday-schools, 
4,  29,  30. 

Study  of,  leads  to  life  of 
prayer,   16. 

Study  of,  Methods  for  main- 
taining, 69. 


Bible,  The. 

Study  of,  methods  of  asso- 
ciating the  large  class  with 
real,    94. 

Study  of,  by  church  and  col- 
lege members,  cooperating 
committee  for,  32. 

Study  of,  often  fails,  60. 

Study  of,  rather  than  Bible 
reading,    122. 

Study  of,  Spirit  of  work  pri- 
mary and  fundamental  in, 
59. 

Study  of,  satisfied  craving  for 
the  recreation  of  the  soul's 
life,  19. 

Study  of,  spreads  out  God's 
plan  for  human  existence, 
11. 

Study  of,  Successful  organi- 
zation  and  conduct   of,    57. 

Study  of,  the  secret  of  the 
life   of  the   Bible   class,    98. 

Study  of,  two  elements  which 
make  for  success  in,  60. 

Study  of,  voluntary,  4. 

study  policy  for  men  of  an 
entire  community,  168. 

Studies  of,  suggestive  not  ex- 
haustive,  127. 

The  church  interesting  men  in 
the,  13. 

Theological  students  studying 
the,   4. 

Training  classes  for  the  study 
of,  in  colleges,  36. 

Why  men  study  the,  3. 
Biblical    thought    and    research, 

modern,   12. 
Brahman  student  after  studying 

the  Bible,  49. 
British    and    Foreign    Bible    So- 
ciety, the,  5. 
Brooklyn,    Bible    study    class    in 

Y.    M.    C.    A.    in,    64. 


204 


INDEX 


Business  side,  the,  103. 

Character    forming,    Bible    as- 
sists in,  15;   modern  call  for, 
14;    the,    of    Jesns,    17;    the 
great  question  of  the  East,  52. 
Characters,  Widespread  reassess- 
ment of  men's,  14. 
China,  Bible  study  in,  44,  47. 
Chinese    educator    studying    the 
principles   of   Christianity,    7; 
scholar    and    teacher    accepts 
Christianity,  49. 
Christ's   life,   The   study   of,    72. 
Christianity,     Brahman     student 
accepts,  49;   Chinese  educator 
studying  principles  of,  7;  fail- 
ure of,  6;  never  studied  thor- 
oughly,   7;    what    it    is,    6,    7. 
Church,     the,     and    the     college, 
Union    of    Bible    interests    in, 
31;  and  the  school,  how  work 
together,    32;    and   the    Bible, 
12;     and     Bible    study,     29; 
needs   able  men  to  teach  the 
Bible,     13;     large     classes     as 
rival  organizations  to  the,  96 ; 
its    opportunity   to    popularize 
the  Bible,  14. 
College     graduates     in     church 
Bible  study,  enlistment  of,  33; 
men   interested   in    the    Bible, 
23;    studying    the    Bible,    3; 
people,    pastors    and    Sunday- 
school      superintendents     who 
can    interest,     38;    professors 
teaching    in    the    church,    36; 
Union  of  Bible  interest  in  the 
church  and  the,  31;  Valuable 
contributions     by     graduates, 
34. 
Colleges    and    schools,    Study    of 
the   Bible   in,    23,   26;    Train- 
ing classes  in,  taught  by  min- 
isters and  laymen,  35. 


Committees,    111. 

Constitution  and  by-laws  of  or- 
ganized classes  for  men,   171. 

Conviction,  religious,  130. 

Cooperating  Committee  for  Bible 
study  by  church  and  college 
members,  32. 

Cooperative  Bible  study,  the  next 
step,   31. 

Cornell  University,  Bible  study 
conference  at,   166. 

Course  of  study,   70. 

Details,  attention  to,  79. 
Discussion,    81,    116. 
Dollars,  the  field  of,  not  always 
the   battleground   of   men,    16. 

Educational  values  of  the 
Bible,   the,   129. 

Employment  Committees,   113. 

Ethics,  the  Bible  the  first  book 
upon,    15. 

Evangelization,  the  entire  Chris- 
tian, of  Korea,  50. 

Evangelism  as  an  objective,  87; 
Bible,  the,  as  a  means  to,  88 ; 
Bible,  the,  in  the  Orient,  48; 
modern,  134. 

Faculty  men  teaching  Bible 
classes  in  the  church,  36. 

Faith,  in  Jesus,  how  it  empowers 
the  will,  19;  in  the  New 
Testament,  18;  of  Jesus,  63; 
the    spirit   of,    61. 

Friendships,  Toung  men  must 
have,    102. 

Fundamental,  the  spirit  of  work 
primary  and,  59. 

God,  Men  embodying  the  love  of, 
needed  in  the  East,  53 ;  search 
of  modern  man  for,  19. 

Growth  of  Bible-study  classes, 
the,   61,   62. 


INDEX 


Habit  of  Bible  study,  the,   11; 

help  of  Bible  literature,   125. 
Healer,  Jesus  as  the,  18. 
Heathen  studying  the  Bible,  13. 
Honesty,    Demand    for    men    of, 

15. 
Hope  in  Jesus'   presence,   18. 
Human,    existence,    Bible    study 

spreads    out    God's    plan    for, 

11;     interest     in     the     Bible, 

xiii. 

Ideals,  Jesus  brought  out  those 

defaced,  18. 
Illinois,  University  of,  Growth  of 

Bible-study  class  in,  62. 
India,    Bible    study   in,    45,    48; 

Students   in,    know   the    Bible 

better   than   any   sacred   work 

of  Hinduism,  46. 
Individual,  standards,  how  Bible 

study  corrects,   11;   work,   70. 
Influences   of   Bible    students   in 

the  Orient,  the,  51. 

Japan,  Bible  study  in,  43. 

Jesus  as  healer,  18;  brought  out 
defaced  ideals,  18;  character 
of,  17;  faith  in,  empowers  the 
will,  19;  the  faith  of,  63; 
hope  in  the  presence  of,  18; 
reached  the  potential  energy 
of  the  soul,  18 ;  the  great 
magnet,    116. 

Jesus'  absorbing  interest  in  men, 
18. 

Korea,  Bible  study  in,  44,  47; 

evangelization  of,  50. 
Korean  churches,  filled  with  men 

and  women,  50. 

Labob  problem,  the,  a  religious 

problem,  149. 
Laity  League  of  Social  Service, 

153. 


Leaders,  must  be  filled  with  the 
spirit  of  victory,  63-65. 

Leadership,  opportunity  and 
method  of  Bible,  131;  train- 
ing, for  a  state-wide  cam- 
paign, 165. 

Lectures,  Bible,   series  of,   69. 

Librarian,  duties  of  a,  110. 

Life,  Bible  the  book  of,  14;  does 
modern  man  know  what  it  is, 
10;  problems  of,  8,  9;  re- 
deemed, the  student's,  16; 
work,  the  Bible  and,  9. 

Literature,  Bible,  and  Bible 
habits,  125 ;  Bible-study 
courses  and,  121,  190;  native 
biblical,  needed  in  the  Orient, 
47. 

Love  of  God,  men  embodying 
the  needed  in  the  East,  53. 

Mammon  gospel,  faith  in  the, 
decreasing,   15. 

Membership  committee,  the,  111. 

Men  eager  to  study  the  Bible, 
100 ;  those  embodying  the  love 
of  God  needed  in  the  East, 
53 ;  Jesus'  absorbing  interest 
in,  18;  of  honesty,  demand 
for,  15;  young,  must  have 
friendships,  102;  young,  na- 
turally religious,  100. 

Method  in  Bible  study,  the 
bridge  between  the  dream  and 
fulfilment,  59;  in  Bible  study, 
the  strong  man  is  the  great, 
64. 

Methods,  for  associating  the 
large  class  with  real  Bible 
study,  94;  for  maintaining 
Bible  study,  69;  for  union 
between  church  and  college, 
32,  39;  loose  ones  not  suc- 
cessful,  58. 

Ministry,  a  teaching,  14. 


206 


INDEX 


Missionary,  mastery  of  the  Bible 

necessary  to  the,  12. 
Missions,   Bible  study   and,   145. 
Modern  tendencies,   139. 
Moral    battles,    the    Bible    helps 

men  in  their,  16. 

Naturalness,  81. 

Neglect  of   Bible  study,   12. 

New  England,  growth  of  a  Bible- 
study  class  in,  61. 

New  Testament,  faith  in  the,  18 ; 
resistance  force  fortified  by 
reading  the,  17;  teaching  of 
the,  9. 

New  York  City,  constitution  of  a 
Bible   class   in,   176. 

Objective,  the  adequate,  129. 

Officers,   107. 

Organization,  American  genius 
for,  57 ;  meetings,  105 ;  suc- 
cessful kinds  and  the  conduct 
of  Bible  study,  57. 

Organized  Bible  class,  a  large, 
93 ;  How  one  Bible-study  class 
was,  66,  68. 

Organist,  duties  of  the,  109. 

Orient,  Bible  evangelism  in  the, 
48 ;  Bible  study  among  men  in 
the,  43;  men  embodying  the 
love  of  God  needed  in  the, 
53;  native  biblical  literature 
needed  in  the,  47 ;  spiritual 
reality  in  the,  51 ;  training 
expert  Bible  teachers  in  the, 
47. 

Oxford  Press,  the,  5. 

Personal,  the  Bible  peculiarly 
so,  15;  knowledge  of  students, 
86;  service  outside  the  class, 
71. 

Popularity,  World-wide,  3. 


Power  of  the  Bible  realized  in 
the   Orient,   51. 

Practical  policy,  Value  of,  66. 

Prayer,  80 ;  Bible  6tudy  leads  to 
life  of,  16. 

President,   duties  of  the,    107. 

Problems,  the  Bible  and  modern, 
148;   those   of  life,    8,    9. 

Program  at  the  Vanderbilt  Uni- 
versity, 161;  Sunday,  the,  of 
an  organized  Bible  class,  163. 

Psalms  of  David,  the,  saved 
many  souls,   16. 

Purpose,  the  large,  in  Bible 
study,    60. 

Question  drawer,  the,  115. 
Quietness,  the  teacher's  strength 
in,   78. 

Ramabai,  Pandita,  45. 
Reference  books,  Bible,  128. 
Reform,    the    Bible    at   the    heart 

of   modern,    140. 
Religion,  the  Bible  and,  18;  real 

quest  for,  8. 
Religious         conviction,         130; 

knowledge,  at  second  hand,  7. 
Resistance     force,     fortified     by 

reading  New  Testament,  17. 
Righteousness,    the    groundwork 

of  the  Bible,  15. 
Rochester,   N.   Y.,   by-laws   of   a 

Bible  class   in,   183. 
Rural  communities,  Bible  classes 

in,  156. 

Scholarship,  modern,  xi. 

Schools  and  colleges,  those  study- 
ing the  Bible,  26;  How  can 
they  and  the  church  work  to- 
gether, 32. 

Secretary,  the  duties  of  the  cor- 
responding, 108,  duties  of  the 
recording,    107. 


207 


INDEX 


Secretaries,  national  Bible  ones, 
46. 

Service,  definite,  for  members 
of  a  Bible  class,  104;  State 
Bible  Conference  emphasizes, 
165 ;  the  Bible  as  a  means  to, 
139. 

Serviceableness,   86. 

Small  Bible  class,  the  advantage 
of  a,  75;  small  classes,  Bible 
study  in,  75. 

Social  adjunct,  101;  committee, 
112;  gospel  of  the  Christian 
Scriptures,  139;  Laity  League 
of  Social  Service,  153;  re- 
sponsibility,   arousal    of,    132. 

Societies,   Bible,  4,  5. 

Souls,  the  Psalms  of  David 
saved  many,  16. 

Spirit  and  method,  57;  the,  of 
faith,  61 ;  the,  of  victory,  63 ; 
of  work,  primary  and  funda- 
mental, 59. 

Spiritual  reality  in  the  Orient, 
51. 

State  Bible  Conference  empha- 
sizes service,  165. 

Statistics,  Bible  study,  3-5,  27- 
29,  62,  126,  144;  those  for 
the   Sunday-school,   152. 

Students,  conducting  Bible  insti- 
tutes, 23,25;  of  all  races 
studying  Bible,  27. 

Study,  a  course  of,  70. 

Success,  two  elements  which 
make  for,  60. 

Suggestion  of  first  importance, 
93. 

Sunday-school,  Bible  study  and 
youth  in  the,  151;  statistics 
of  the,  152;  studying  the 
Bible  in  the,  4,  29,  30;  the 
large  class  as  a  rival  to  the, 
96. 


Sunday  session,  the,  114. 

Teacher,  the,  of  a  small  class, 
75;  the  strong,  a  first  essen- 
tial of  the  Bible  class,  75. 

Teacher's  strength  in  quietness, 
the,   78. 

Teachers,  training  expert  ones  in 
the  Orient,  47. 

Teaching  ministry,  1.4,  131. 

Temperance  question,  the,  in  the 
light  of  Christian  revelation, 
149. 

Tendencies,  modern,  139. 

Theological  students  studying 
the  Bible,  4. 

Treasury,  the,  Bible  class  having 
an  individual,  109. 

Union  of  Bible  interest  in 
church  and  college,  31,  32-39. 

Vanderbilt  University,  pro- 
gram at,  161. 

Vice-president,  duties  of,   107. 

Victory,  Leaders  must  be  filled 
with  the   spirit   of,    33,   65. 

Vision,  the,  Bible  knowledge 
clarifies,  10. 

Visiting  or  Attendance  commit- 
tee, 112. 

Vocation,  Bible  study  a  sugges- 
tive basis  for,  9,  10. 

Will,    the,    Bible    gives    added 

force   to   the,    17. 
World-wide    popularity,    3. 
Work,   individual,    70 ;    spirit   of, 

primary  and  fundamental,  59. 

Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Bible  study  in  the, 
3;  Bible-study  class  in  the 
Brooklyn,    64. 

Youth  in  the  Sunday-school,  Bi- 
ble study  and,  151. 


208 


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